


The Sum of Your Choices

by remuslives23



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M, Torchwood Big Bang, discussion of genetic manipulation, discussion of miscarriage, old fic, post A Day in the Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 07:20:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 32,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2975291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remuslives23/pseuds/remuslives23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matthew Prentiss thinks he's having a bad day when, after a close encounter with an alien device, he regains consciousness in a cell in the underground headquarters of Torchwood. He befriends Ianto Jones, who is having his own problems trying to sort out what he wants from his faltering relationship. Things go from bad to worse when the mystery of Matthew's odd experience is unraveled, uninvited visitors arrive in the Hub, and Matthew is called upon to make a choice that will change his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sum of Your Choices

**Author's Note:**

> Set after 'A Day in the Death' and references events in 'Reset' and 'Meat'. Thanks to my beta, Di, for her cheerleading and constant support, to my artist for choosing my fic despite the horrible summary, and to my flist for shaking pompoms when I complained about how much easier it would be to write 15000 words of porn than it was to write actual plot.

'How far now, Toshiko?'

Toshiko Sato's brown eyes peered through the lenses of her glasses, narrowing slightly as she disregarded the layers of readings and numbers and honed in on the required information.

'Three more blocks, Jack, then take a right,' she said, raising her voice so he could hear her over the thrum of the SUV's engine and the sniping of their colleagues.

'For a doctor, Owen, you have a scary lack of compassion and empathy!'

Jack's gaze met Toshiko's in the rear vision mirror, and she gave him a weary, closed-mouth smile. He grinned and winked at her in response, but his fatigue and irritation was evident in the deepening lines around those usually sparkling blue eyes.

'Gwen, you can take your bloody bleeding heart and shove it right up your...'

'Alright!' Jack bellowed, making Owen and Gwen jump. 'Cease fire, you two. I've had more than enough of playing dad for this evening.'

'Should I tell Teaboy that tonight's role play is off?' Owen sneered nastily then he rolled his eyes when Jack took his eyes off the road to glare daggers at him, and Ianto's voice whispered threats through his comm. 'Fine, I'll shut up. Christ, you're both so bloody sensitive lately. Aren't you getting enough?'

'If you're referring to sleep, then no,' Jack snapped. 'We've been out chasing Weevils around Cardiff while you lot were catching up on your beauty sleep.'

'Well, you're always telling us you don't need any beauty sleep,' Owen retorted then he yelped, 'Fuck!' and braced himself on the dash as Jack swung wildly into the right turn.

'Five houses up on the left hand side, Jack,' Toshiko said, ducking her head to peer out the tinted window. 'Number fifty-nine.'

'Weapons ready,' Jack directed, and all three cocked their handguns. 'We don't know what this is, who this is. Comms on...' He pulled up in front of a tidy looking house with a high-pitched squeal of tyres, 'Ianto, guide us.'

'One heat signature in the house,' came Ianto's tinny voice through the communal channel. 'Rift energy levels are high and concentrated to the back of the house on the ground floor – probably the kitchen given the age and common design of the houses in that area.'

'Architectural genius now, Ianto?' Owen taunted. 'Bit cliched, isn't it?'

'What? Welshmen and architecture? Yes, it's love affair that's lasted through the ages...'

'I mean, decorating and ponc...'

'Finish that sentence, Owen, and I'll even you up with a bullet in your other shoulder. Not like it'll kill you.'

'Kids!' Jack barked. 'Let's concentrate on the task at hand, yes? Gwen, you're with me. Toshiko, take Owen and head around the back. Let me know when you're in position.'

All four car doors swung open simultaneously and four sets of feet hit the bitumen. Jack watched as Toshiko let Owen take the lead, his experience in the field outweighing hers, before she slipped down the gap between the house and side fence. Jack glanced at Gwen and silently directed her to take his flank as they headed up the garden path.

'Any movement, Ianto?' Jack asked quietly as he trod softly up the three steps to the front door, gesturing for Gwen to come alongside him.

'None,' Ianto answered, his voice lowering instinctively. 'The house belongs to Matthew Prentiss. He's a teacher, divorced, two kids that live with their mother. It's not his week for access.'

Jack couldn't help the quirk of his lips despite hearing the edge of passive aggressive formality in Ianto's tone. 'You do know everything.'

'Not everything, sir.'

Jack's winced, the reminder of ongoing cold silence between them stinging. He shoved his concern about the current rockiness of their relationship aside and eyed the front door. Cheap plywood, shitty lock, maybe a weak chain – no problem.

He caught Gwen's eye and held up a finger, pointing at himself then the door, then he indicated that she should take the lead once entry had been gained. She nodded, brow creasing in concentration. She was stunning like this, Jack thought. Dogged and determined, and he allowed himself a real smile.

'What?' she mouthed, but Jack just shook his head.

He imagined Toshiko and Owen getting into position around the back of the house, all calm efficiency and intensity; could almost see Ianto's face set with single-minded focus as he talked them through this call out. He felt a shot of pride for his team; the team he'd left The Doctor to lead.

I made the right decision.

'The Rift energy is vacillating,' Ianto said, a frown in his beautiful voice. 'It... hold on.' There was a fast clatter as Ianto tapped on the keyboard then, 'It's coalescing into a fixed point.'

'Life signs?' Jack asked before Owen broke in.

'We're ready, Jack. Curtains are drawn here, but we can see that there's something glowing inside.'

'Copy, Owen. Hold for a moment. Ianto?'

'One human life sign confirmed, sir. He's still with us and he's alone.'

'Right,' Jack said, backing up a step to get a good run at the door. He glanced at Gwen, who nodded briskly and firmed her grip on her gun. 'Let's do this. On my count. Three, two, one...'

The twin sounds of splintering wood were gratuitously loud in the quiet of the dawning day. The door slammed into the wall then rebounded back, crashing into the broken frame. Gwen shoved it open, leading with her gun as she swept the immediate area, Jack on guard behind her.

'Clear,' she whispered, moving cautiously down the hall.

Jack slid inside after her, plastering himself against the wall as they made their way to the back of the house.

'I see you all,' Ianto said, his steady voice washing soothingly over Jack's on-edge nerves. 'Toshiko and Owen, it's the room to your left. Jack and Gwen, straight ahead. There's been no movement.'

Jack reached the closed door at the end of the hall just as Toshiko said, 'Jack?'

'Hold your positions. Let me go in first,' he told them, placing a hand on the door. It creaked on its hinges as he pushed it open, and he slid through the gap as soon as it was large enough. He saw the man first – his back to Jack as he sat slumped over the kitchen table. The air in the room crackled with energy, making the hair on Jack's neck stand on end and his skin prickle. Jack edged around the room, quickly locating what they were looking for.

He frowned, staring for a moment before he holstered his gun. 'Ianto?'

'Everything alright?'

Jack heard the concern lacing the steadily spoken words and couldn't resist asking, 'You worried?'

'Do you really want to do this now, Jack?'

Jack scowled. 'Fine,' he snapped. 'Levels?'

'The radiation coming off that... device...?'

'Yeah, it's some sort of artifact or tech.'

'Well, the radiation levels aren't dangerous, but it's not an energy signature the mainframe recognises. Best be careful.'

'Right, thanks for your concern,' Jack retorted as he moved closer to the football-sized sphere glowing softly in the middle of the kitchen table. He swore he could hear the grind of Ianto's teeth, and felt a juvenile pleasure in having pissed off the usually difficult-to-ruffle man.

His eyes ran over the unconscious stranger – Matthew Prentiss? There were no obvious injuries so he switched his attention to the unfamiliar device as he called out to Owen.

'Jack, do you know what it is?' Ianto asked as Owen and Toshiko burst through the second door. Owen took in the scene with one sweeping look and went directly to the unconscious man at the table, fingers searching for a pulse.

'I think it's some sort of storage or communication device,' Jack told Ianto, half an eye on Owen, half on the bronze-coloured sphere, registering Gwen's entry in his peripheral vision. 'I've seen similar tech before although this is made of a slightly different material, and these symbols aren't ringing any bells.'

Jack reached out and laid a hand on its cool surface. 'There should be a way of opening...'

'What did you do?!'

Ianto's sharp tone was infused with fear and Jack pulled his hand back. 'What? What happened?'

'A burst of energy,' Toshiko answered, stepping forward and holding her scanner over the sphere. 'Internal. I didn't register any change in the atmospheric energy level, but...'

'...it elevated within the artifact itself,' Ianto broke in then asked accusingly, 'What did you do to it, Jack?'

'It's still intact. Jack touched it, though,' Toshiko answered, and they all heard Ianto's sigh of exasperation.

'It's not dangerous,' Jack insisted then he became aware of the buzz of alarmed voices drifting down the hall. 'Damn, the neighbours have arrived. Gwen, damage control, please. Toshiko, grab a containment unit from the SUV. Ianto, get hold of the local cops and let them know it's a Torchwood investigation.'

Gwen and Toshiko both disappeared out the door as Ianto murmured, 'Yes, sir,' in his ear. Jack turned to Owen who was crouched next to his patient. 'How is he?'

'Respiration is alright, pulse is a little thready but nothing I'm worried about,' Owen answered, sitting back on his haunches. 'Shock, maybe? The energy in the room is pretty thick and, if he's not used to it, it could have knocked him out. Or maybe that thing...' He waved his hand towards the sphere, 'did something to him. I won't know much until I do some tests on him. Make sure nothing nasty has been absorbed.'

Jack nodded. 'Ianto?'

'I'm here. The police are sorted. Do you want me to prepare the guest quarters?'

Jack snorted in amusement at Ianto's nickname for the cells. 'Yes,' he said before putting aside his earlier anger and adding softly, 'Thank you, Ianto.'

He heard the hesitation, could almost see Ianto's mouth open then close before an equally as quiet, 'It's my job, Jack,' was whispered into Jack's ear.

*

 

Ianto set the blanket and pillow on the thin foam mattress he'd hauled out of storage and thrown on the concrete ledge in the cell. He'd taken care to choose a cell as far away from Janet and their other Weevil guests as possible, ensuring there was toilet paper available and that the cell was clean, if not comfortable.

The mundane activity gave his mind time to wander and it inevitably wandered to Jack and their current standoff. Ianto sighed as he exited the cell and made his way back to the upper levels. Things had been strained between them since the Space Whale incident. Jack had been a moody bastard after it was all over (including the shouting), alternating between staring at the CCTV of Gwen and Rhys lounging by the Bay, and snapping out orders to an increasingly annoyed Toshiko and Owen. Ianto had fled to the peace and quiet of the Archives, resentful that Jack had made it so blatantly clear in front of everyone where his heart lay, angry with himself for even caring, and feeling his fragile mortality more than ever before as the click of a firing pin on an empty chamber ran on a loop inside his head.

He'd left without a word to Jack or the others an hour later and, when a very drunk Jack had turned up at his flat looking for a shag in the early hours of the morning, Ianto had felt no small flash of vindictive pleasure in turning him down. But Jack, being Jack, had to push the issue until Ianto heard himself yell, 'If you think I'm going to fuck you while you're thinking of Gwen Cooper, you're mad!'

And it might still have been alright - Jack might not have remembered Ianto's outburst the next day, and Ianto could have pushed the jealous little slip downdowndown so deep he'd never be able to find it again – if Jack hadn't smirked and drawled, 'What makes you think this would be the first time?'

Ianto punched him, of course, and then it had all come pouring out. GwenbetrayalLisahateDoctorabandoned. Months of repression and compartmentalising ripped apart in one red-hazed hour in which cruel, vicious things were said on both sides; poisonous words thrown with unerring accuracy, piercing their suddenly exposed hearts and digging in deep like venomous barbs. They'd picked and pushed at each other until they'd found themselves up against the front door, Ianto pounding into Jack while Jack shoved back in what was more like a fight than a fuck.

After, a suddenly sober Jack had reached out to him with a chastened expression, but Ianto threw him out, trying not to see the regret on the other man's face and telling himself that they'd try to fix it in the morning. But before he could try and repair the damage, they had lost two days and Gwen and Jack holed up in the office, arguing loudly over whether they should try to recover the missing memories. Then Owen died and came back – and developed a new love for resurrection jokes – and that night, Jack pinned Ianto to the nearest available flat surface (his office floor) and sucked his brains out through his dick.

Over the next week, they screwed until they were barely able to sit, but there remained a chill between them that no amount of hot, sweaty shagging could melt and, balls deep inside Jack three nights ago, Ianto finally realised that they had barely said two words to each other outside of harder, faster, deeper for days, and that tonight, they'd come together almost perfunctorily. They hadn't even made an attempt to pretend there was any affection in their coupling, that they were doing anything besides losing themselves for a few minutes in a willing body.

And the realisation ripped his heart apart.

So Ianto had removed his cock from Jack's arse, dressed, and told Jack he needed some space. Jack had been swinging between sulky, angry, and charmingly flirty ever since; his moodiness only making Ianto even more certain that time apart to sort out what they wanted from each other was exactly what they needed.

Even if he already missed Jack more than he was prepared to admit.

Ianto stepped into the work station level just as the sirens blasted out a warning. He changed direction mid-step, heading for the cog door. It rolled open to reveal Jack and Owen carrying the dead weight of the unconscious man between them, Toshiko and Gwen following closely with the containment box. His offer of help was brushed aside so he left them to struggle through to the medical bay as he headed for the coffee machine on the upper level.

By the time he'd made everyone their usual and headed back down to the work stations, Jack had returned and was lifting the containment box onto Toshiko's desk. He glanced up at Ianto as he descended, giving him a careful smile as he accepted his coffee.

'Thanks,' he murmured then glanced over his shoulder towards the medical bay where laughter swelled as if on cue before leaning in with a hesitantly hopeful expression. 'Ianto, we need...'

'We really don't,' Ianto said firmly, hiding his flinch when Jack struggled to disguise his hurt. His tone softened; he didn't wanted to hurt the other man. 'Jack, I just think we both need some time to make sure that we really want this, that it – we - haven't become a habit.'

'Is that what I am for you?' Jack asked indignantly. 'A habit?'

'No! God, Jack, do you deliberately misunderstand me?' Ianto growled, feeling his temper flare back into life. 'I'm not the one who called you a 'convenient arse'.'

'Jesus, Ianto,' Jack whispered, rubbing his hand across his eyes. 'I was angry and drunk and... I didn't mean any of it.'

Ianto took a moment to calm down before he spoke. 'I think that maybe there was a little truth in everything we said,' he said gently, ignoring Jack's defiant glare. 'We needed to get that out, Jack. It was poisoning us.'

Jack sighed heavily, and Ianto turned away, frustrated with Jack's refusal to see his decision as anything but a slight. 'I'm not trying to hurt you, Jack, but I don't want to keep going on like we were anymore.'

He could feel Jack's gaze on him and wanted nothing more than to bury his face in the crook of Jack's neck and just cling to him, but then he caught a glimpse of a dark head approaching and pushed the desire aside. 'You need to be sure that I'm what – who – you want.'

Jack's mouth opened but Ianto stepped away as Gwen reached them. 'Coffee?' he asked pleasantly, seeing Jack glance quickly at Gwen then look back at Ianto with a grim set to his mouth.

Gwen's eyes shifted from Ianto to Jack as she accepted the offered mug. 'Everything alright?' she asked, obviously picking up on the lingering tension.

'Fine,' Jack said brusquely, placing his striped mug carelessly on Toshiko's work station. Dark brown liquid sloshed over the sides, but a petulant Jack simply turned back to the containment box, leaving the mess.

Ianto sighed. Childish bloody arse. The puddle crept across the surface of the desk towards Toshiko's glasses. Ianto sighed again and juggled the tray of cups with one hand as he reached into his pocket for a handkerchief. He threw it over the spill then gave Jack a quelling glare. Gwen watched them, eyes wide.

'Are you sure everything's alright?' she asked Ianto who smiled tightly.

'Best drink your coffee before it gets cold,' he said in reply, taking Jack's cup and placing it back on his tray. He left Toshiko's mug on her desk then stalked to the kitchen, feeling Jack's eyes boring into him as he poured Jack's no milk, no sugar coffee down the sink.

I can play this game too, Harkness.

*

 

Owen slid the needle out of the prone man's vein then slapped a small square of padding over the spot of blood that welled to the surface. Footsteps grew louder, but he didn't look up as he taped the absorbent pad down. 'Coffee,' he said, recognising the sound of Ianto's stride.

'You don't drink it anymore, remember?' Ianto said as he came down the stairs. 'How is he?'

'Unconscious,' Owen said flatly, looking up in time to see Ianto roll his eyes.

'And to think it took only six years of medical school to become such a gifted diagnostician,' Ianto said mockingly, pasting a disbelieving expression on his face.

Owen scowled, but Ianto barely noticed as his eyes shifted to the man on the autopsy table.

Matthew Prentiss: Londoner, twenty-eight years old, only child, parents deceased. He was divorced with two children (both girls), had taught at a series of public schools in London before transferring to Cardiff. Clean criminal record apart from one fine when he was nineteen for public indecency (an incident involving too much beer, an alley, and the inability to fuck quietly) and a few parking transgressions, and he had a five dollar overdue fee at the local video shop. He rented the house where they'd found him collapsed, had a cat called Sunny, and frequented The Cardiff Arms in Splott.

He was also much more attractive than his ID photographs had suggested – a bit 'young James Bond', leading Ianto to despair that he had developed an unhealthy attraction to secret agent types.

'Is there a reason you're inflicting your presence upon me?' Owen whined, unbuckling the strap around Prentiss' bicep and tossing it onto his instrument tray. 'I don't even get coffee anymore to make the situation tolerable.'

Ianto's eyes flicked up to Owen's face. 'I was wondering if he was ready to be taken to the cells,' he replied smoothly before he turned and headed for the stairs. 'But I wouldn't want to inflict my presence upon you for any longer than necessary. I'm sure you can manage him alone.'

'Oi!' Owen called, pulling his gloves off with a snap. 'Point made, alright? Cut the lip, and just give me a hand with him.'

Together, they moved Prentiss to the cell Ianto had set up, Owen departing immediately while Ianto covered the man with the blanket before stepping out of the cell. He tapped the button on the wall and the Plexiglas door swung shut.

Ianto studied Prentiss through the grimy barrier, taking in the dark hair sticking up in spikes due to lack of product, the square chin shadowed with stubble. He was wearing a cheap, wrinkled t-shirt, ragged trainers and lived-in jeans held up with a worn leather belt.

Doesn't look like an alien.

It was a stupid thought, Ianto knew that, but Prentiss looked so... ordinary. He looked like Ianto used to look before Torchwood and Lisa and Jack. Looking at Prentiss, and thinking about the utter averageness of the man's life made Ianto wonder if he'd made the right choice to stay with Torchwood after Lisa died, made him wonder what his life might be like without Jack Harkness taking up so much of it.

Ianto closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against the Plexiglas. Every part of him ached at the thought of being without Jack, but things had to change because he was no longer willing to accept crumbs from a man who was simply biding time with him as he pined for something lost, or waited for something more.

Not anymore.

'Who the fuck are you?'

Ianto opened his eyes and gasped, stumbling back a step in surprise. He reached for his ear piece and tapped the button. 'Jack?'

Dead air and then, 'Yeah?'

Ianto bit back his anger at the petulant response, and used his most professional tone when he answered, 'Sir, Matthew Prentiss is awake.'

*

 

Matthew glared at the suited man on the other side of the Plexiglas screen, a nauseating mix of confusion and panic beginning to churn in his stomach. 'Where am I?' he demanded groggily, eyes darting around what was undeniably a cell.

Cell? What the hell did I do last night?

'Mr Prentiss,' the man said politely, Welsh lilt rolling the vowels. 'There's no need to be concerned.'

Matthew pushed the blanket covering him aside, and stood shakily. His head was pounding and, for a moment, the world tilted on its axis. He reached out and touched the clear wall between them, blinking rapidly to try and dispel the dizziness. 'You'll forgive me if I find that a little hard to believe,' he said scornfully as the man's face began to come into focus.

The other man's lips turned up in a smile that didn't reach his shuttered blue eyes. 'I understand,' he said with a little nod. 'But you are safe here.'

'Where am I?' Matthew repeated. 'Are you a copper? This isn't a police cell...'

An unearthly howl broke the silence of the cell block and Matthew jumped, staggering until his back hit the far wall. 'What... what was that?' Fear curled in his stomach and he pressed himself against the rough concrete wall. 'Who are you?'

'My name is Ianto Jones,' the man said with another formal smile. 'And this is Torchwood.'

Matthew went cold, the chill pervading every cell in his body. 'Torchwood?' he whispered. He'd heard the locals talking; had heard the stories about people taken by "bloody Torchwood", people who were found later with their memories missing, or who were never seen again. 'What... what am I doing here?'

'What's the last thing you recall, Mr Prentiss?' Ianto Jones asked, stepping closer.

Matthew stared at him, forcing his mind past the screaming terror of waking in a locked cell in what looked like a dungeon, and focused on trying to remember what he'd done to end up here. 'I – er – I was at home. I was going to get some breakfast...' He frowned. 'I don't remember.' Panic flared again. 'What did you do to me?'

Jones didn't answer, and fear and anger got the best of Matthew. He launched himself at the Plexiglas, slamming his fists into it and making it rattle. 'What did you do to me?' he shouted.

'It wasn't us,' Jones said calmly, not flinching from Matthew's attack. 'We found you unconscious in your home. We want to know what happened to you as much as you do, Mr Prentiss.'

Matthew's head bowed in frustration, and it was then he noticed the tape on his arm. 'What the...?' he said, holding his arm out in front of him. He tore the padding off and stared at the blossoming bruise.

'Our medic took some blood,' Jones said smoothly. 'To see if the object we found with you had affected you in any way.'

Matthew looked up at the other man in shock. 'You took blood from me?' he asked, stunned. 'While I was out of it?'

Jones smiled and this time, there was a spark of cunning in his eyes. 'His bedside manner is atrocious,' he said conspiratorially. 'You were better off unconscious.'

'Hey, I resent that!'

Matthew jolted in surprise as a mismatched group appeared, but Jones didn't move, and Matthew guessed that he'd been aware of the others' proximity. The man in the lead – not the one that had spoken and who was now glaring at Jones – strode right up to the closed cell door, not sparing Jones a second glance, but letting his eyes rake lecherously over Matthew's body. The other – the doctor, Matthew assumed from his comment – studied him as well, but his gaze was entirely professional, lacking the leering quality of the man in the braces. There was a pretty woman, perhaps Matthew's age, bringing up the rear and, when Matthew's eyes fell upon her, she smiled a reassuring, gap-toothed smile.

'Matthew Prentiss,' the older man said, folding his arms over his chest.

Matthew frowned, eyes skipping from the woman's overly bright smile to the doctor's dispassionate gaze to the unapologetically lewd grin of the man who was so obviously in charge. His gaze finally fell upon the placid face of Ianto Jones, whose lips turned up ever so slightly at the corners when his eyes met Matthew's.

Matthew directed his plea to him. 'Please tell me what's happening.'

'You're at Torchwood headquarters,' the man in the blue shirt began.

'I know,' Matthew snapped, glancing at him in irritation before turning his gaze back on Jones. 'That's not what I asked.'

'We brought you here to find that out, Mr Prentiss,' Jones said calmly then he indicated the other man. 'This is Captain Jack Harkness. He will help you work out what happened today.'

The man – Harkness – looked at Jones briefly before resuming his study of Matthew. 'What do you know about the orb we found on your kitchen table?' he asked abruptly.

Matthew frowned at him, his eyes flitting back to Jones, who moved closer to Harkness. 'What orb?' he asked, glancing at the other two when Jones and Harkness' faces stayed blank. 'What are you talking about?'

'Why did we find what we believe to be a communication device from another planet in your kitchen, Mr Prentiss?' Harkness asked, eyes narrowed.

Matthew felt breathless. Communication device? From another planet? 'You're insane,' he whispered, backing up again. 'Another planet...? What the hell are you on about?'

Harkness sighed impatiently and threw a glance at Jones. 'Show him Janet then get him upstairs. Owen needs to do some more tests.' He eyed Matthew once more then spun on his heel and marched away, the doctor following.

'Jack, I'll stay and help Ianto,' the woman called after him. She received no response and, for some reason, gazed questioningly at Jones. 'Ianto, what...?'

'If you'd like to stay, Gwen, you might want to be armed,' Jones said, much to Matthew's alarm. Jones seemed to sense this. 'It's protocol,' he explained. 'For our own safety until we can investigate the situation further.'

'What about my safety?' Matthew retorted.

'You're in no danger,' the woman – Gwen – insisted, her eyes wide and sincere even as she pulled a gun and held it loosely at her side. 'It's just a precaution until we're sure you're who we think you are.'

'I'm going to unlock the cell now, Mr Prentiss,' Jones said. 'If you would stand back, please?'

Matthew stepped back, watching Jones warily as he entered the cell. Gwen raised her gun and pointed it with steady hands at Matthew's chest. 'Hands out in front, please,' Jones said quietly. 'I have to cuff you. It won't hurt unless you struggle.'

Oh, God. Matthew held out his arms and Jones expertly slipped loops of nylon over his wrists, tightening the restraints until they bit uncomfortably, but not painfully, into Matthew's skin.

'Follow me,' said Jones, stepping out of the cell and gesturing in the direction Harkness and the doctor had disappeared. 'I have something to show you.'

Matthew hesitated. Jones appeared to be straightforward and matter-of-fact and, although Matthew didn't trust him as far as he could throw him, it seemed that following him was the best of a bunch of bad options. Matthew closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and stepped out of the cell.

*

 

Jack leaned over Toshiko's shoulder, watching on the CCTV as Ianto and Gwen steadied Prentiss, who'd reeled in shock at the sight of Janet.

'You're sure he's human?' he asked Owen, feeling the other man looming behind him.

'Seems to be,' Owen answered, tilting his head to see the monitor. 'We were fooled by Beth, though.'

'He's been in and out of hospital throughout his life according to the NHS data bank, and we have his doctor's notes,' Toshiko said, her manicured fingers flying over the keyboard. 'Broken arm, sprained ankle, head injury – all from rugby in his teens and early twenties. Coughs, chest infection, a – er – suspicious rash...'

Owen snorted, and Jack smirked. Toshiko shook her head at them. 'Children,' she muttered, eyes skimming the lines of information on the screen. 'We have a birth certificate, details of his parentage pan out, school records, university degree... ' She looked at Jack. 'Matthew Prentiss appears to be an average human. If there's anything alien involved here, the cover story is immaculately done.'

She tapped out a sequence of coding and the images on the CCTV changed as the cameras followed Matthew Prentiss through the Hub. Jack could see Gwen's mouth moving and guessed she had taken the lead in the explanations of what Torchwood did. His eyes flicked to Ianto and the hollow ache in his chest – a constant these days – expanded.

He knew Ianto was unsure of his place in Jack's affections. He believed that Jack had asked him on a date when he was hurting and vulnerable and desperately needed something – anything – familiar and safe to ground him. It wasn't untrue; Jack had needed someone to hold onto as he struggled to adjust after his time on the Valiant, but that wasn't why he'd chosen Ianto to be his anchor.

His gaze shifted to Gwen. If he wanted her, he was pretty sure he could still have her – engagement or not. But something had stopped him from reaching out for her, from answering her silent call to him when they'd found themselves alone together in the cells after his return.

When it had come down to making the choice, it had actually been far easier than he'd ever thought it would be.

But he'd hurt Ianto. Badly, and more than once. His words – God, the things they'd said to each other! - were bad enough, but from the moment that bullet had ripped through Owen's chest, Jack had begun to pull away emotionally, reducing their relationship to fucking without feeling with barely a word spoken between them. He knew it was only a matter of time before Ianto had enough, but he was unable to stop himself from thinking ahead to the day that it would be Ianto whose blood flowed freely to wet the soil, whose heart would slow and finally stop completely. He would leave Jack broken, and there was only so much heartache a man could take before he lost himself, before he lost everything that made him human.

Finally, Ianto did what Jack had been waiting for him to do and told him that he wanted some space, some time with no more contact than necessary so they could sort out what they wanted from each other. To figure out if Jack was what he wanted. Ianto wanted distance, which was exactly what Jack had thought he wanted as well – until he'd gotten it.

Now, he was just completely miserable.

Gwen's earnest voice drifted up from down below, and Jack shoved all thoughts of his personal life aside. 'Send Ianto out to get us all something to eat while you examine Prentiss. Gwen can help you,' he said to Owen. 'Toshiko, check that the residual radiation around the sphere is within the safe limits and start scanning. I noticed some symbols on the underside. Run them through the mainframe and see what you come up with, though I doubt you'll find a match.'

He pushed past Owen on his way to his office. 'What are you going to do?' Owen asked as Ianto and Gwen came into sight, a pale Matthew Prentiss between them.

Jack glanced at them then looked back at Owen. 'I'm going contact a friend to see if she can help us. That sort of communication device is used by many races, but the symbols narrow it down. I don't recognise them so I doubt they'll be in the archives or on the mainframe, but my friend might have an idea.' He raised an eyebrow. 'If that's alright with you, Doctor Harper?'

Owen showed him two fingers and turned his back on Jack as Ianto stepped up onto the work level. Jack's eyes caught his for a moment, and Ianto gave Jack a brisk nod before he turned back to Prentiss, leaving Jack to sigh and head for his office.

*

 

Gwen studied Matthew as he watched Ianto ascend on the lift. He was a nice-looking man: dark, almost black, hair, green eyes, pale skin – although his pallor was understandable at the moment. She'd noticed as they made their way through the Hub, that he was a little taller than Ianto, but broader, built more like Jack. In a fair fight, he'd probably have easily overpowered both her and Ianto, but he'd been as docile as a lamb from the moment Ianto put the restraints on him. Gwen smirked as she remembered how efficient Ianto had been with those cuffs and indulged herself in a brief fantasy that answered the question of how he'd became so proficient with them.

'Where does that come out?' Matthew asked as he turned to Gwen, who shook herself out of her daydreaming and tightened her lax grip on her gun.

'Sorry?'

'The... lift,' Matthew said, his brow furrowed as he waved his hand at the now-sealed hole in the ceiling above. 'Where did he get off?'

'In the Plass,' Gwen answered with a grin. 'Right by the water tower.'

Matthew stared at her, mouth open, then looked back up at the roof. 'Don't people notice a person rising out of a hole in the pavement?'

'Perception filter,' she said, hoping he didn't ask for any specifics as she wasn't sure herself how it worked. 'It... well, the short and least technical version is that it makes us sort-of invisible until we step off the stone. Tosh or Jack could explain it better.' She put her hand on his elbow, the light touch making him jump. 'Come on. Owen's waiting.'

He followed her to the medical bay, half an eye still on the lift. 'Right,' he said, obviously sceptical about her explanation. He stopped at the top of the stairs and looked around at Owen's equipment, his throat undulating as he swallowed hard. 'So, you really catch aliens?'

'There’s a rift through space and time that runs through Cardiff, and stuff comes through it from other timelines and planets. It's our job to monitor that stuff,' Owen piped up, sounding bored as he gave the rote speech. He gestured impatiently. 'Down you come. Get your shirt off, yeah?'

'And this orb thing that Harkett bloke asked about earlier? That's more alien stuff?' Matthew asked as he moved down the stairs, tugging his shirt over his head as he passed Gwen.

She grinned as she admired the shifting muscles in his arms. 'Harkness,' she corrected as Owen gestured for Matthew to sit on the stainless steel autopsy table and Matthew, with a grimace of distaste, obeyed. 'And, yes. It came through the rift early this morning and somehow ended up in your kitchen. We aren't sure if it was a random drop and you were unlucky enough to have it appear in your house, or...'

'Or if you were the intended recipient,' Jack interrupted as he appeared in the entry. He trotted down the stairs. 'Which is what I'm inclined to believe happened.'

He stopped beside Gwen and leaned casually against the wall, flashing Matthew a toothy grin that held no trace of humour. 'I don't believe in coincidences.'

'Up until five minutes ago, I didn't believe in aliens,' Matthew shot back. 'It's a day to be proven wrong, apparently.'

Jack stared passively at Matthew without response, and Gwen arched an eyebrow in surprise. It wasn't like Jack to a) miss the opportunity to make a snappy comeback, or b) let the fact a good looking man was currently disrobing in front of him go uncommented upon. She gazed thoughtfully at Jack's stony profile. That tension between him and Ianto lately. I wonder if there's something more serious going on there.

'Right,' Owen said, breaking Gwen out of her contemplation. She watched him pick up a syringe. 'I need more blood.'

'What for?' Matthew asked even as he held out his arm.

'Checking for alien compounds, radiation, DNA testing,' Owen told him. 'I didn't know what state you were in this morning so I didn't take too much from you. I've used that up already.' He swiped at Matthew's arm with an alcohol swab then slid the needle into the vein.

Matthew grimaced. 'You took blood without my consent,' he said. Owen nodded, and Matthew snorted. 'Not civil libertarians then.'

Gwen felt a jolt of guilt. Matthew hadn't asked for any of this. It was most likely that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they were treating him like a criminal. Worse than a criminal. She thumbed the safety switch back into place then slipped her gun into the back of her jeans. Jack noticed and frowned.

'Don't lower your guard because he's cute and looks harmless,' he said, voice low and hard. 'Until we know what role he plays in this, he is to be considered a threat. Alright?'

'Jack, he...'

'Do you understand, PC Cooper?' Jack said sharply. 'Because if we're offending your delicate sensibilities, it's not too late to make good on that threat you made to swallow some retcon.'

Gwen bristled, both at the unusually harsh rebuke and the reminder of a tantrum she wasn't all that proud of now the high emotion had faded. 'Don't speak to me like that,' she growled angrily.

'Then stop questioning my orders,' he snapped back. 'I've let you get away with it before without repercussion, but don't continue to test the boundaries of our friendship, Gwen. It doesn't allow you as much rope as you think.'

He turned his back on her in a blatant dismissal before charging up the stairs. Gwen clenched her teeth, suppressing the urge to follow him and give him a tongue lashing. She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Owen when he smirked at her, and stewed as he drew vial after vial of blood from an increasingly pale Matthew. He was beginning to look shaky, and she frowned in concern.

'You alright?' she asked, trying to soften her tone when she heard how strained it was. 'Matthew?'

He looked at her and shook his head slowly. 'No,' he said shakily. 'Nothing about this is alright.'

*

 

Ianto smiled a tight smile as he walked down the stairs of the interrogation room. 'I wasn't sure what you liked, Mr Prentiss, so I got you chicken and salad,' he said, placing the tray of food on the table in front of Matthew.

'That's fine,' Matthew said dully, glancing balefully up at Ianto. 'I suppose I should be grateful I'm getting fed at all.'

Ianto glanced at him. 'We aren't monsters,' he said softly. 'We just want this mystery solved.'

Matthew grunted. 'I don't know,' he muttered. 'I wouldn't mind Captain Harkness meeting that alien of yours in a dark alley, to be honest.'

Ianto tried not to let his dismay show. The number of times that wish had already come to fruition... He shook himself and opened a bottle of water. Matthew looked tired and wrung out; Jack had obviously put him through the wringer during the interrogation he'd been conducting when Ianto returned with their lunch. Jack was slamming about his office at the moment, as frustrated as hell. He'd gotten absolutely nothing informative out of Matthew, nor had their inquiries and investigations into the sphere reaped any rewards.

'He's just doing his job, Mr Prentiss,' Ianto said, in Jack's defense.

'For God's sake, will you call me Matthew?' Matthew said, irritably. 'You're about the same age as me, aren't you?'

'A couple of years younger,' Ianto confirmed. He crouched beside Matthew's chair and released the cuffs. 'Eat.'

'He might not be a monster,' Matthew said darkly, chafing his wrists, 'but I am your prisoner and, from what I can gather, you lot aren't all that big on following the correct legal procedures.'

'We want this resolved as quickly as you do, Mr... Matthew.'

Matthew shot a disdainful look at Ianto. 'I doubt that.' He poked at the chicken. 'If I eat that, I'm not going to wake up and not know myself, am I? Or forget how to feed myself, or start pissing my pants because I've forgotten my toilet training?'

Ianto leaned against the table. 'I hope not,' he said with an ingratiating smile. 'I do the cleaning around here.'

Matthew looked startled for a moment then snorted out a breath of amusement. 'Eat possibly poisoned food or starve to death,' he muttered, taking up the plastic fork Ianto had provided. 'Bloody brilliant.'

He stabbed a piece of tomato with the utensil then looked up at Ianto. 'Are you going to just stand there and watch me, or are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?'

Ianto shrugged. 'What do you want to know?'

Matthew opened and closed his mouth indignantly at Ianto's obtuseness before he realised that he wasn't sure what it was he wanted to know either. 'How... how long will this take to sort out?' he asked finally.

'I don't know,' Ianto replied. 'We're trying to identify the planet the sphere came from right now. We think that will help us work out how best to open it.'

'You don't know?' Matthew asked after swallowing a mouthful of salad. 'Aren't you the experts?'

Ianto smiled and shifted to sit in the seat across from Matthew. 'There are thousands - tens of thousands - of civilisations out there. No one knows everything about them all.'

'Tens of thousands...' Matthew shook his head incredulously then asked, 'So what happens to me while you're figuring this out?' Ianto's face smoothed out, Matthew taking the sudden lack of expression as a bad sign. 'I stay here indefinitely then, do I?'

'I'm not sure,' Ianto admitted. 'I think that, if your blood work comes back alright, it might be safe to assume you are just an unfortunate bystander caught up in this.'

'And if it doesn't?'

Ianto narrowed his eyes shrewdly. 'Is there any reason it won't?' he asked.

Matthew shrugged a shoulder and speared a piece of chicken. 'Today has been a day of revelation and surprises,' he said wryly. 'I'm not sure I'd be shocked if you said I was secretly a tentacled Martian.'

Ianto chuckled, recognising his own coping mechanism of dark humour in Matthew. 'I'm fairly certain Martians aren't tentacled,' he said, making Matthew laugh softly as he pushed his food around his plate.

'So I'm going to be here a while,' he said quietly. Ianto nodded, even though Matthew hadn't really been asking. 'Well, if you can't tell me anymore about that sphere thing that's caused so much trouble, you'd better entertain me with stories of aliens you can tell me about. Starting with that... fanged creature in the cells. I want to know where they live because I don't fancy running into one after a night on the lash.'

*

 

'Jack?'

Jack tore his eyes from the CCTV feed of the interrogation rooms and looked questioningly at Owen. 'Results?'

'Some,' Owen said, slumping into the chair opposite Jack. He rubbed at his eyes. 'He's clean. Nothing unusual yet. I've got the DNA running, and those results should be ready tomorrow.'

Jack gave Owen a nod, his gaze drifting to the monitor again. 'Ianto's still in there with him.'

Owen stretched. 'And he hasn't tried to suck his blood through a straw or impregnate him with his carnivorous offspring?' he said, words distorted as he spoke through his yawn. 'Good for Teaboy.'

'Don't call him that,' Jack snapped, shooting Owen an annoyed glance before his eyes flicked back to the screen. Ianto was talking – far more animatedly than he had communicated with Jack lately – and Jack felt a ripple of... hell, was that jealousy?

'Whatever,' Owen said, pushing himself to his feet with a groan. 'Jack, I know it's early, but we've all been up since the crack of dawn and there isn't much more we can do now. That sphere is doing nothing, Toshiko can't find a thing on the mainframe or in the archives about that script on the device, your friend came up blank as well, and Gwen can't do her sympathetic act because Ianto's doing it for her.' Owen gazed speculatively at Jack. 'What did you say to her earlier? Because she's been in a shit of a mood ever since.'

Jack steepled his fingers under his chin. 'None of your business,' he said, leaning back in his chair. 'Go home. Be back here early tomorrow, though. I want those DNA results. I can't let him go until I'm sure he's just some poor bastard in the wrong place at the wrong time.'

Owen was already in the doorway when he hesitated. 'Want me to get Ianto out of there?' he asked. 'Tell him to leave for the day? Or do you have other plans for him?'

Jack's eyes slid back to the CCTV, his chest tightening when he saw Ianto and Prentiss laughing. Ianto had done a lot of laughing in the one hour and forty-six minutes he'd been sat in there with the other man. Any other time, Jack would be taking advantage of Ianto's obvious connection with Prentiss and thinking of ways to get them both into his bed that night, but now... 'Get him out of there,' he said flatly. 'Tell him to get Prentiss back to his cell then go home.'

He watched on the monitor as Owen entered the room, delivered the message, then left again quickly. He heard the sirens go off as the others left through the cog door then watched as Ianto walked Prentiss back to the cells. He secured the cell door, but instead of leaving right away, Ianto slouched casually against the Plexiglas, conversing with Prentiss for another hour before he left for the upper levels. Jack watched his progress, hoping Ianto would come to his office to say goodnight, but he let out a disappointed breath when he heard the cog door grind open then closed.

Jack tapped his pen against his lip, frowning down at his paperwork. For all his sneering taunts about the archaic confines of a twenty-first century relationship, Jack knew that some Torchwood compliant version of it had been the next logical step for him and Ianto. He'd had every intention of setting the wheels in motion after he came back from traveling with the Doctor, but he'd been distracted by John and, yes, Gwen. Once the dramatics surrounding his return had settled, Ianto had been amenable to a physical reconnection and it had been just so easy to fall back into their old patterns. After all, he didn't have to think about his growing attachment to the other man if they concentrated on their sexual compatibility.

Jack rolled his eyes. God, I'm a coward.

But Ianto had seen his recalcitrance and now, with a new confidence and self possession that left Jack more impressed than he wanted to admit, he had called Jack's bluff, and was standing strong.

Jack thought back to where it all had come to a head – the incident with the Space Whale. The fear that had been ignited when Jack saw Ianto with his hands bound and a gun to his head had barely been banked when Gwen added more fuel to the fire with her threat to leave. The thought of losing Gwen, coming right on top of Ianto's close call, had pushed him over the edge, and he couldn't hide his fear of losing the people he loved any longer.

Jack rubbed at his eyes, He realised later how his emotional outburst must have appeared to Ianto and the others – seeing Jack so furious, so distraught, at the prospect of Gwen leaving when he'd coolly demanded Ianto to get up and run after his attacker earlier in the day. It was an explosion of the terror that had been intensifying all day, but they hadn't seen the build up; just the end result which had left them all with the ashy taste of resentment and hurt in their mouths.

They'd all left without so much as a goodbye, and Jack had gotten utterly shit-faced, needing to stop feeling for just a little while. He'd gone to Ianto's house, wanting to fuck the pain away, and instead, when Ianto had rightfully rejected him, Jack had lashed out and hurt him again, hurt them, perhaps beyond repair.

Jack couldn't blame Ianto for doubting his intentions or affections when he'd slung his worst fears back in his face. Not when he'd never told Ianto that, while he loved Gwen for reawakening his soul after he'd thought it long dead, it had been Ianto who had healed all the fissures in Jack's heart, that it was Ianto that had broken through all Jack's walls and made him feel again after years of numbness.

Or that it utterly terrified him how much he now felt for Ianto.

He groaned and let his head fall to the desk. He closed his eyes, praying for the oblivion of sleep to come and claim him before he resorted to shooting himself to get a few minutes respite from his regrets.

 

*

 

Ianto tossed the paper bags of food on the table and turned to the coffee machine. He yawned widely as he dumped the cold remains of the last pot he'd made the evening before in the sink. As he washed the pot out, he let his head rest against the edge of an overhead shelf, eyes glazing over in exhaustion as the brown-tinted water swirled down the drain.

He missed Jack. Just a few bloody days without his touch and it was as though everything in his world had slipped out of kilter. It was every ridiculous unrequited love story cliché come to life. He couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. He'd found himself listening to soppy love songs on the car radio before he realised what he was doing and had almost snapped the knob off in his rush to switch it off. And, worst of all, his resolve was beginning to waver.

Why was he doing this to himself? What could Jack really offer him beyond what they already had? Ianto would never be the love of Jack's life, they'd never be able to grow old together, hell, he wasn't even certain Jack would be there from one day to the next. So, why couldn't he just let this go and settle for regular, great sex with a hot bloke who could make him hard with a crook of his finger? Why was he risking what they had when he could have just ridden out the bad patch then gotten back to the shagging?

Ianto sighed, his hands automatically going through the coffee making motions as his mind drifted. Falling for Lisa had been so easy, so simple. There was none of this uncertainty or confusion. He sighed again as tendrils of steam rose from the dark liquid trickling into the pot. It was days like this he wondered what his life would have been like if he'd never gone to London, never heard of Torchwood or the Rift or Captain bloody Harkness.

Married? Kids? A decent chance of seeing my thirtieth birthday?

He immediately felt a twinge of guilt at his disloyalty. Torchwood had been his choice, and for everything he'd given up, Ianto knew he'd gotten something in return. He snorted as he poured a couple of coffees. He'd answered his own question. He was willing to take the chance and give up his arrangement with Jack for the chance at something bloody spectacular in return – the opportunity to love, and be loved in return by the most remarkable man he'd ever met.

It was worth taking the chance for. Jack was worth it.

'Ianto?'

His head popped up, and he saw Jack staring quizzically at him, obviously having said his name more than once.

'Are you alright?' Jack asked, brow creased in concern.

Ianto nodded, tearing his gaze from the ripple of muscle he could see under the tight white undershirt Jack was sporting. 'Coffee? I bought pastries and fried egg sandwiches for everyone since we're all in so early today.'

'Ianto...'

'I was about to take something to eat down to Matthew,' Ianto continued as he poured Jack's usual morning coffee order of strong and black. 'And some coffee. I don't expect he had a particularly restful night.'

'Matthew now, is it?' Jack commented with a raised eyebrow as he stepped into Ianto's personal space. Their shoulders brushed, the contact setting every nerve ending in Ianto's body on fire. 'Though, I suppose you did spend a lot of time with him before you left yesterday.'

'If you want to know something, Jack, just ask.'

'Alright,' Jack said, the teasing note in his voice previously now completely gone. 'You said we needed to think about what we wanted from each other. So, tell me. What do you want from me, Ianto?'

Ianto turned and dug through the bags of food, pulling out a wrapped package from each and placing them on a tray. 'I think you already have some idea of what I want, Jack. I just don't think you can reconcile it with what you're willing to give, and you're searching for middle ground that'll satisfy me without you having to give too much.'

He added two cups of coffee to his delivery and lifted it carefully off the bench. 'But what I'm sure I don't want is middle ground. We've been doing middle ground for eighteen months now – if we include your sabbatical - and I don't want it anymore. My life is too short to settle for that, and you...'

Ianto sighed and looked up at Jack, shifting the tray to one arm so he could touch Jack's face lightly. 'The people you love flitter through your life so quickly,' he said softly, trying not to notice Jack leaning into his touch with a palpable yearning. 'They're gone in a blink of an eye and all you have left are your memories – and even they fade too fast. Don't waste space in here...' He tapped Jack's temple with two fingers, 'or in here...' His hand moved to Jack's chest, '... on someone you only want middle ground with.'

He stepped past Jack only to have his arm caught and held by the other man. 'Jack...'

'The memories I have of you – of us - are not a waste of space,' Jack said, voice hoarse, raw. 'Whatever happens between us, never, ever think that those memories are anything less than precious to me.'

It hurt to look Jack in the eye, to see the pain there and feel the echo of it inside himself, so Ianto just leaned in, brushing a light kiss over the corner of Jack's mouth before continuing down to the cells.

He refused to look back.

*

 

Matthew had managed a few broken hours of sleep before spending the rest of the night tossing and turning on the thin layer of foam that lay between him and a solid concrete block. He couldn't tell what time it was in the dank dungeon they were holding him in, and his fear and despair were beginning to make the shadowy corners of his cell look menacing.

'Christ,' he'd finally muttered, giving up on getting any more sleep. He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the mattress, sliding towards the end of the makeshift bed to sit in the dim glow of the wall-mounted light outside the cell. He slumped forward, bracing his elbows on his knees and stared down at the cold, hard floor for what felt like hours. He could hear the low rumbling keen of the Weevils – the aliens... Fuck! - from the other end of the cell block, and the sorrowful moaning sent shivers down his spine.

He tried to be reassured by his last conversation with Ianto who, even with the suit, seemed like a decent, ordinary sort of bloke. Except that he works in a secret underground base for people who hunt aliens. Ianto had told him that all they wanted was to ensure that Matthew was safe, that he hadn't been compromised in any way because of the – thing – they'd found in his house. Matthew shuddered at the thought of what Ianto meant by 'compromised', and by what might happen to him if he was.

This is mad!

'What the hell am I doing here?' he muttered, scrubbing his hands through his hair and making a face at the oily feel of it.

'The age old question,' said an amused Welsh voice. 'Let me know if you figure it out.'

Matthew's head shot up, and his whole body relaxed at the sight of Ianto Jones. The other man was carrying a tray, the fragrant scent of coffee drifting through the air holes in the cell door, and Matthew's mouth watered. 'God, am I glad to see you,' he said fervently, straightening as Ianto punched in the code to open the cell door. 'Can I go yet?'

Ianto smiled apologetically. 'Not yet,' he said, sliding a tray onto the mattress beside Matthew. 'Owen will be in soon and the DNA results shouldn't be too far away.' He eyed Matthew critically, and Matthew was suddenly very aware of his bed hair, stubbled jaw, and the clothes he'd been wearing for over twenty-four hours now. He must have looked like hell, whereas Ianto... Well, Ianto looked hot, actually, which made Matthew feel even more self-conscious.

'I'll take you to clean up a little when you've finished eating,' Ianto said. 'I know this isn't the most restful location. I'm sorry it's all taking so long.'

Matthew shrugged, his attention shifting to the tray. As embarrassed as he was by someone as well put together as Ianto seeing him in this state, hunger was trumping pride right now. He gazed longingly at the two cups of coffee and grease-splattered paper bags. 'Are those mine then?' he asked hopefully, and Ianto chuckled.

'A touch of milk and no sugar. I guessed at how you took it,' he said, handing a plain white mug to Matthew.

'Good guess,' Matthew said, sticking his nose in the cup and inhaling deeply.

'And we're big on fast and easy here so...' Ianto flushed and coughed. 'Sorry, I... Food, I meant...' He waved a hand. 'Anyway, pastries and egg sandwiches for breakfast.'

'You were expecting a comment along the lines of "fast and easy? Just how I like my men?", weren't you?' Matthew asked, adopting a truly terrible American accent and watching out of the corner of his eye as Ianto choked on his coffee. He grinned. 'Your boss; he made a few remarks when he brought down dinner last night that led me to believe he's not the most politically correct of employers.'

Ianto's flush deepened. 'No, no, he's not,' he said, a reminiscent smile playing about his lips. 'He's a good man under all the inappropriate sexual innuendo, though, Matthew. He'll figure this out as quickly as he can.'

Matthew cocked his head curiously, seeing something in Ianto's smile. 'You and him? Are you...?'

'We are... impossible to define,' Ianto said, his smile fading. He smoothly changed the subject. 'How's your coffee?'

Matthew sipped at the steaming beverage and groaned as the full bodied flavour burst on his tongue. 'This is fantastic,' he said with a grin. 'Almost worth the sleepless night in the cells of an underground prison.'

Ianto smiled then stood up, brushing off his pants with one hand and holding his mug steady in the other. 'I'm sorry I can't stay a little longer,' he said, sounding truly regretful as he stepped out of the cell. 'I've got coffee to distribute and paperwork to file.'

Matthew felt a tremor of anxiety and he rose to his feet, his grip on the coffee cup tightening. 'Will you be back soon?' he asked, immediately wincing at the needy tone in his voice. 'I... I just... I'd like to clean up and...' He heaved a great sigh and shook his head helplessly. 'I just want to go home, Ianto. Isn't there anything else I can do to prove I don't know anything about alien spheres? A lie detector or something?'

Ianto glanced up and to the left before moving back into the cell. Matthew raised his gaze and saw a security camera, green light unblinking, then looked back at Ianto.

'What?'

'Just don't say that too loudly,' he said, a grim expression on his face. 'Torchwood lie detectors aren't your usual kind.' At Matthew's quizzical look, he added, 'Brain probe,' and Matthew felt the blood drain from his face.

'Shit. Sounds... unpleasant.'

'Yeah.'

The dark undertone to Ianto's voice made Matthew shiver violently, the coffee spilling over the rim of his cup. Ianto swiftly took it from his hand then guided a suddenly weak-kneed Matthew back down onto the mattress. 'I won't let that happen,' he said, his fingers biting into Matthew's bicep. 'I promise.'

Matthew nodded and Ianto released him, looking surprised at the sight of his fingers wrapped around Matthew's arm. 'Eat,' he said, taking a seat once again. He picked up the egg sandwich and tossed it to Matthew, who caught it awkwardly and looked at Ianto uncertainly. 'Go on,' Ianto encouraged, stretching his legs out in front of him as he leaned back against the wall and sipped his coffee. 'Then we'll get you cleaned up.'

'Thought you had to make coffee and do some filing,' Matthew asked as he unwrapped the still-warm sandwich and took a big bite.

'They can get their own coffee, and the paperwork will still be there in half an hour,' Ianto said with a shrug. He took a sip of his drink and smiled at Matthew. 'It's nice to escape the sexual harassment and wedding talk and snarky comments for a while.'

Matthew smiled and offered half his sandwich before turning the conversation to rugby, feeling pathetically grateful for the other man's continued presence.

*

 

Gwen strode determinedly towards Jack's office. She didn't bother to knock before she entered and shut the door firmly behind her. 'Jack,' she began, stopping in front of his desk and crossing her arms over her chest.

'Morning, Gwen,' he said, not raising his head from the paperwork he was reading. 'Did you need something?'

Annoyance bit at her at his inattention, but she forced herself to stay steady, calm. 'I want to talk to you about what you said to me yesterday,' she said briskly. 'I am your second, and I don't appreciate you speaking to me like you did.'

'I am the leader of Torchwood Three,' he countered, still not lifting his head. 'And I don't appreciate my orders being questioned at every turn.'

'Jack, that's not the point!' she said in exasperation. 'The way you spoke to me...'

'Oh, I think it's very much the point, Gwen,' he said, finally looking up at her. Jack's eyes were red-rimmed and shuttered, underscored with dark shadows, and his jaw tight and set. A shiver ran down her spine at the hard expression on his face. She'd seen it before, but it had never been directed at her until now.

'You didn't like how I spoke to you?' he said, his lip curling a little. 'Tough. Like I said yesterday, anytime you want out, you know where the door is. I admire your conviction, your heart, but I don't need the constant defiance and insubordination.'

'What's going on?' she demanded, hands on her hips now as she glared at him. 'Why are you being like this? You've always respected my opinion...'

'It's not your opinion I have issue with,' Jack said, leaning back in his chair. 'It's the way you choose to express it.'

Gwen stared at him, eyes narrowed shrewdly, then asked, 'Does this have to do with me refusing to retcon Rhys? That was weeks ago, Jack!'

Jack moved quickly, pushing himself to his feet and circling around the table to mirror her pose. 'I understand why you didn't want to retcon him,' he said, his voice dangerously low, and Gwen felt a shot of equal fear and desire as his eyes burned into hers, 'and I respect that. What I don't appreciate, and will not tolerate again, is the way you presented your objections.'

'Jack...'

'No,' he snapped, holding up a hand. 'You had your turn. You told us that we couldn't possibly understand the dynamics of your relationship with Rhys, and you're right, to a point. We don't have that every day connection to something outside of all this. But we do have people we care about, people who mean something to us, both inside and outside Torchwood, and for you to pass judgment, to be so arrogant as to assume that an exception should automatically be made for you because you stomped your foot hard enough...'

Gwen reeled back, eyes wide in shock. 'I just wanted...'

'Yes, you did,' Jack said, bluntly. 'You wanted so you didn't think about anyone else's feelings, you didn't think about how it would affect the others seeing me bend the rules for you, yet again. You didn't consider the impact of your ultimatum on my leadership, on my relationship with... the others. You forced me into a position where I had to give into your demand for something I've consistently denied them, or face losing a team member that we can't afford to lose. And you did it right in front of them.'

'I...' She faltered, realising the position she'd put him in, the hurt she'd inflicted upon her colleagues. 'I didn't realise... I didn't think...'

'No,' Jack said, spinning on his heel and moving back around the desk and sinking into his chair. 'You didn't think.'

Chastened, Gwen followed him around the desk, sitting on the edge. She tentatively covered his hand with hers, and Jack let out a frustrated sigh. 'Gwen, you know how much I care about you,' he said softly. 'And I would hate to lose you, but I won't tolerate that kind of display again.'

She nodded, curling her fingers around his and squeezing, smiling when she received a press of her fingers in reciprocation. 'I'm sorry,' she murmured. 'Not that I wouldn't retcon Rhys, I wouldn't change that, but I am sorry that I hurt you. And the others.'

He looked up at her, waiting for the kick of desire, the spike of lust that he so often felt in her presence, but it was notably absent. Instead, there was a warm feeling of fondness, of love tinged with a little envy, and he was relieved that want had morphed into affection. He smiled, and she grinned back at him.

'We're okay?' she asked, and he nodded.

She leaned in and hugged him, the dark curtain of hair swaying across Jack's face. He sighed at the contact – God, he'd missed being held these last few days - and wrapped his arms around her.

'Oh, sorry.'

Jack pulled back, stomach sinking when he saw a stony-faced Ianto in the doorway, coffee cup in his hand. 'Your mid-morning brew, sir,' he said formally as he walked across the room to Jack's desk. Gwen stood and smiled at him as he passed, a smile Ianto returned before ignoring Jack's outstretched hand and plonking the cup down heavily on the desk.

'Your latte is on your desk, Gwen,' Ianto said, speaking over Jack's murmured thank you. 'Would you like me to bring it up here for you?'

'No, thank you, sweetheart,' Gwen said, touching Ianto's arm lightly before glancing at Jack. 'I think we're finished here.'

Ianto nodded and left without so much as a glance at Jack, Gwen following uncertainly, unsettled by the sudden peak of tension in the room. Jack watched Ianto go, cursing under his breath in frustration, and Gwen looking askance at him as she hesitated by the door.

'You and Ianto,' she said, compassion and concern pouring from her. 'Have you had...?'

But before she could finish her sentence, they heard Owen bellowing Jack's name then the medic was storming up the stairs.

'Jack!' Owen barreled into the room, almost knocking Gwen to the floor in his rush. Jack and Gwen stared at the breathless man who was waving a sheaf of papers at them.

'DNA results,' he gasped, shoving them towards Jack who automatically took them. 'Our boy's got some explaining to do.'

*

 

'This is normal human DNA,' Owen said, stabbing his finger at the large screen in the conference room. He nodded to Toshiko, who tapped out a sequence of instructions on the keyboard of the laptop on the table. The screen split in two and another winding ribbon of DNA appeared.

'This is Matthew's DNA.' Owen turned and faced the monitor. 'And this...' He pointed to a bright yellow section in the strand then spun around to look at Jack, '... well, that's alien DNA, that is.'

Jack squared his jaw and glanced at Ianto, wondering how he was taking the news about his new friend. He hadn't looked at Jack since he'd entered the conference room and, despite this bombshell, his face was as impassive as ever. With a silent sigh, Jack looked back at Owen, who had an air of 'ta-da' about him.

'Do we have the genetic material listed on the mainframe as one we recognise?' he asked, and it was Toshiko who answered.

'No,' she said, her dark hair bouncing around her pretty face as she shook her head. 'Nor in the archival material Ianto has scanned.'

'If it's not in those scans, it's not down there,' Ianto said flatly, still not looking at Jack.

Owen gave a little cough. 'Um, excuse me,' he said, waving his hand. 'Do you want to know what I do know?'

Jack scowled. 'Owen...'

'It's an extra chromosome that seems to be benign,' Owen said hurriedly, apparently realising that he'd pushed Jack's tolerance to its breaking point. 'No abnormalities detected anywhere else, and it doesn't give him any kind of advantages or delays. It's not derogatory or beneficial – it's just there.'

'Hereditary or deliberately inserted through alien intervention?' Jack asked. 'The sphere...?'

'I'd say hereditary. He would have been in much worse shape when we brought him in if someone had messed with his DNA structure,' Owen said, tilting his head thoughtfully as he stared at the screen. 'Although I'd like to test his kids to be certain since his parents are dead.'

'You can't bring his kids in,' Gwen objected. 'They'd be scared to death.'

'Agreed,' Ianto said, finally looking at Jack. 'He'll never cooperate if you do that.'

'At the risk of sounding like a villain in a B-grade film, I don't really need his cooperation,' Jack replied archly, watching Ianto's jaw tense.

'It does make life easier, though, sir,' Ianto snapped back. 'He wants to cooperate, and he's been far more reasonable about all of this than he might have been. Why push our luck?'

Jack stared at Ianto, his face inscrutable. 'There's a chance he knew about this and has been trying to ingratiate himself with you so we'll go easier on him,' he said, knowing he was prodding at Ianto's buttons, but – damn it! - he wanted something from the other man.

Ianto met his gaze without flinching. 'And there's an equal chance that he doesn't have a clue and has been telling us the truth the whole time,' he retorted, voice rising. 'Perhaps, for once, we could try taking the softly-softly approach instead of going at it like a bull in a china shop?'

Jack could feel the others shifting, could feel their confusion and uncertainty at the unusually tense exchange between the two men and, not for the first time, he regretted that he had to be their leader, that he couldn't just drag Ianto into his office and have this out right here, right now. 'We'll see Prentiss first,' he said finally, talking to the others, though his eyes were still fixed on Ianto's face. 'Show him the sphere. Perhaps him being close to it will trigger something. It can't be a coincidence that it ended up finding someone with alien DNA. Owen, fetch him from the cells. Gwen and Toshiko, go and do something else.'

Gwen huffed at the rude dismissal, but the others ushered her out fast, paper and files rustling as they left the room. There was a long moment of thick silence then... 'You like him,' Jack said softly, drumming his fingers against the table. 'Prentiss. You like him.'

'I do,' Ianto agreed, keeping his hands perfectly still on the desktop in counterpoint to Jack's busy fingers. 'But that has nothing to do with my opinion. I don't think that bringing his children here would serve any purpose, and I believe that he has been honest with us.'

'You're angry with me, and you're using him as an excuse to pick a fight,' Jack countered, leaning back in his chair. He felt oddly vulnerable, and crossed his arms over his chest defensively. 'Not very mature, Ianto.'

Ianto stood and smoothed his hands over the front of his jacket before buttoning it, his eyes sliding away from Jack. 'I'm not angry with you, Jack, although I'll admit to less than professional behaviour earlier,' he said regretfully. 'This really is about Matthew. I don't want to see another life needlessly torn apart by Torchwood.'

Jack lifted his chin, understanding striking him like a lightning bolt. 'Like yours was? You made your choice, Ianto,' he reminded him, ignoring the panic that streaked through him. Did Ianto want out of not only their relationship, but Torchwood itself? 'More than once you chose this life.'

'Yes, I did,' Ianto agreed quietly. 'But Matthew didn't. He deserves his life back intact.'

Jack thrust himself to his feet so fast the chair rattled in his wake. Fear and anger – both at Ianto and himself - lengthened his stride and, with just three steps, he was standing toe to toe with the man that could make him sob with need, or laugh like he hadn't in decades.

'Is that what all this 'I need space' crap is about?' he hissed, his chest tight and aching. 'You want your old life back? Your life before Torchwood?' Before me?

'No, and if that's what you think, I've done the right thing in asking for some distance,' Ianto replied sharply, and Jack let out a frustrated exhale.

'I don't know want you want from me, Ianto,' Jack cried, desperation cracking his voice as he watched Ianto slipping further and further out of reach. 'What we had is all I can give. This...' He waved his arm, encompassing the entire Hub, 'is all I can offer you. Weevils and archives and snatches of time together whenever we can manage it. I want you, but I can't offer you anything more than I already have.'

Finally, a section of Ianto's walls crumbled, and Jack lost his breath at the despair that radiated from the other man. 'Yes, you can,' Ianto whispered sadly. 'You can give me so much more than that, Jack, but I only want it if you do too.'

'Ianto, I chose you. I want you.'

Ianto lifted his chin and asked quietly, 'Why?'

'W... what?' Jack stammered with a startled frown.

'Why'd you choose me? Over everyone else who'd fall over themselves to have you? That's what I want you from you, Jack. I want to know why,' he said defiantly, daring Jack to share something of himself with him.

Jack opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Ianto stared at him for what was only several seconds, but felt like a lifetime before his walls slammed back into place and he stepped back. 'You won't even give me that, will you?' he said, his voice even. He turned his back on Jack. 'I should go and help Owen with Matthew.'

And then he was gone, and Jack felt like crying.

*

 

Matthew stared at Harper, mouth working uselessly. 'W... what?' he finally rasped out, searching the other man's face for any sign of humour. 'You're joking, right?' Ianto was standing behind Harper, his face blank. 'Ianto?'

Harper rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder at Ianto. 'Yes, Dr Jones,' he said snidely. 'Give us the benefit of all your years of medical experience.'

Ianto ignored Harper. 'He's an arse, but he knows what he's talking about,' Ianto confirmed. 'Trust him, Matthew.'

A long breath shuddered from Matthew's tremulous lips as he tried to wrap his mind around what Harper had told him.

Alien DNA. I have alien DNA in me.

Bile suddenly flooded over his palate, and he gagged. Harper yelped and took a step back, but Ianto swiftly produced a stainless steel bowl. He held the vessel while Matthew brought up his breakfast, one arm slung lightly over Matthew's shoulders to steady him as he retched violently. Harkness appeared on the observation platform, gazing passively down at the scene.

'We told him,' Harper said redundantly.

Matthew spat into the bowl, raising a shaking hand to his mouth as he straightened. 'God,' he choked out, wiping his mouth on the back of his wrist. His throat burned with the sour aftertaste and he gave Harper a grateful nod when the man shoved a bottle of water towards him from a safe distance.

He went through the motions automatically, rinsing and spitting then taking long gulps of the fresh, cool water; all the while, his mind screaming, a cacophony of denial, panic, anger and fear that made Matthew feel light-headed. Ianto's arm around his shoulders seemed to be the only solid, sure anchor to reality and, when Matthew felt that warm weight sliding away, he was embarrassed by how quickly he reacted, grabbing Ianto's wrist and holding on.

Surprise flickered across Ianto's face then understanding. He handed the disdainful doctor the vomit-splattered bowl, keeping his hand firmly on Matthew's shoulder. Matthew gripped his wrist tightly, knowing he must be hurting Ianto, but unable to loosen his fingers. Ianto didn't flinch, though, squeezing Matthew's shoulder reassuringly before he prompted, 'Owen?'

'Right,' Harper said, slapping his hand down on an instrument tray, the clatter bouncing off the walls of the medical bay. 'This mutation doesn't seem to be actually doing anything. It's not interfering with your mental or physical health, it's not corrupting any of your systems or affecting the functions of any organs...' He shrugged. 'It appears to be benign, although that doesn't mean it isn't some kind of trigger that activates under certain conditions. Anyone in your family dropped dead under strange conditions? Go a bit funny in the head all of a sudden? Develop murderous tendencies?'

'No. Is... is that likely?' Matthew stuttered. 'I mean, what could it do to me?' He went cold as Harper's comment about his family finally sank in. 'My kids. Could my kids have this as well?'

Harper glanced at Harkness, who was still on the observation deck, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed across his chest. His face was closed off, but his eyes flickered as they moved from Harper to Matthew before settling on Ianto. 'It's possible,' Harkness finally said, gaze lingering on Ianto even as he spoke to Matthew. 'But that's something we can investigate later.' Now he looked at Matthew. 'What I'm more interested in is if your unusual DNA is the reason the rift is dumping alien tech on your kitchen table. Like I said yesterday, I don't believe in coincidences.'

Matthew tore his eyes from Harkness and turned to Ianto, the closest thing he had to a friend here. 'This is a prank, right?' he whispered, begging Ianto to tell him the truth. 'This is just an elaborate joke, isn't it?'

Ianto's forehead creased and he glanced up towards Harkness before attempting to smile at Matthew. 'We want to show you the sphere we found in your house,' he said. 'We've checked it over and it seems harmless, but we need to know what it is and why it appeared in your kitchen.'

Matthew looked carefully at Ianto as he asked, 'Will it do anything to me?'

Ianto's jaw tightened then he shook his head. 'We think it was the intensity of the energy from the rift spike that made you pass out yesterday, but we aren't sure what will happen this time,' he admitted.

Harper clicking his tongue in exasperation. 'Are we done with the touchy-feely stuff then? Can we get on with it?'

Matthew glanced at the irritated doctor then turned his head to look at Harkness. The man had moved, now standing, with hip cocked, at the safety rail. There was a challenging glint in his eyes and Matthew felt the panic and fear fading as anger swelled.

'Fine,' he snapped, glaring at Harkness, as he accepted the unspoken challenge. 'Show me.'

*

 

Toshiko glanced up from her PDA as the quartet of men approached the artifact room. She watched them over the top of her glasses, a little smile playing about her lips.

This job could kill me at any moment, but at least the scenery is fantastic.

Her gaze roamed appreciatively up the length of their bodies before settling on their faces, and she lost her burgeoning smile. The Torchwood men were inscrutable as they prepared for the unknown, but Matthew's face hid nothing, no matter how hard he was trying to seem nonchalant. He was terrified.

She smiled at him as they approached and he attempted to return the gesture as Jack snapped out brusquely, 'Is it ready, Toshiko?'

Toshiko nodded, looking back down at the scanner. 'All but minute traces of radiation and rift energy have dissipated,' she told him, reading off the data scrolling across the screen. 'The object has no heat signal and appears benign.'

'Right,' Jack said, clapping his hands together. The sharp sound made Matthew and Toshiko jump. 'Tosh, I want you monitoring the sphere. Owen, get our guest hooked up. Ianto, find Gwen. I want everyone here for this.'

Matthew stared at Jack with wide eyes. 'You think that thing will do something to me,' he said, voice low.

Jack raised his chin. 'I want to be prepared if it does,' he replied stiffly then he looked at Ianto. 'Find Gwen.'

Ianto nodded once then laid a reassuring hand on Matthew's bicep. 'Owen's going to get a heart monitor on you,' he said softly. 'He'll be monitoring your vital signs when you touch the sphere. Don't worry.'

Matthew squeezed his eyes shut then nodded his understanding. 'Thank you,' he said, equally as quietly. 'I hate not knowing what they're going to do.'

A throat was cleared and Toshiko peered at Jack, who was glaring murderously at Ianto and Matthew. 'Ianto, when I ask you to do something, I expect it to be done right away.'

Ianto rolled his eyes, Matthew chuckling conspiratorially, before Ianto said, 'Yes, sir,' in a mild tone and slipped away.

Toshiko watched as Owen asked Matthew to unbutton what looked like one of Ianto's shirts then pressed sticky sensors to his bared chest, efficiently hooking him up to the cardiac monitor. He wrapped a blood pressure cuff around his arm then caged Matthew's index finger in a pulse oximeter, Jack overseeing the silent preparations with a faint scowl on his face.

Owen murmured something to Jack then strode towards his work station, dropping into his chair and tapping at the keyboard. Toshiko focused on the numbers on her screen, ensuring they were remaining in the harmless range now Matthew was close, but glanced up in surprise when she heard Matthew growl, 'You're hoping my bloody head explodes, aren't you?'

Jack's eyes narrowed. 'Silence is golden,' he snapped, his lip curling a little.

'What does Ianto see in you?' Matthew said, shaking his head. 'I mean, sure, you're hot in a sugar daddy kind of way, but Christ, you're a prick.'

Jack coloured, his face hard and furious as he took a step forward. 'You haven't seen how much of a prick I can be yet,' he said in a voice dripping with anger. 'You have no idea who you're talking to, Prentiss, so keep your mouth shut.'

Toshiko's heart raced. She knew that Jack had a dark side, had seen it once or twice herself, but right now, the menace pouring from him was scaring the hell out of her. So it startled her when Matthew continued to poke the bear.

'I recognise a jealous bastard when I see one,' he taunted, and Toshiko saw Jack's fists clench.

'Jack,' she broke in quickly. He turned his strained face towards her, and she frowned at him. 'Do you think you could check the metal analysis I had running? You might recognise some components that I didn't.'

She shifted nervously under Jack's intense gaze then let out the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding when Jack gave her a curt nod. 'Sure,' he said, whirling and stalking towards her work station.

Matthew snorted out a derisive laugh, and Toshiko frowned at him. 'You don't know Jack,' she said disapprovingly, Matthew turning his head to look at her as she spoke. 'You don't know him, so don't judge him.'

'Perhaps it's easier for me to see what a bastard he is because I'm not as close to him as you all are,' he retorted.

'Look,' she said sternly. 'Jack... he saved me. He saved us all – from cells, from grief, from ourselves. He gave us all a chance to do something fantastic and, yes, he can be cruel and callous, but he has to be so we don't. He spares us that. And none of us would change him. Not for anything in the world.'

Matthew stared at her appraisingly for several long moments then nodded. 'I apologise, Toshiko,' he said eventually. 'I didn't mean to upset you. You get to see a different side to your boss, I get that. But as JK Rowling wrote, "If you want to know what a man's like, take a look at how he treats his inferiors". I'm your prisoner so I guess that makes me pretty bloody inferior. And all I can see is a bastard.'

There was a long moment of awkward silence then Toshiko said slyly, 'You've memorised Harry Potter?'

'I have two Potter obsessed children,' Matthew said with a grin. 'I reckon I paid for a good portion of Rowling's mansion.'

Toshiko chuckled, and the tension eased.

*

 

'We ready?' Jack asked fifteen minutes later, tapping his fingers impatiently on Toshiko's desk. He pursed his lips as he watched Ianto handing Prentiss a bottle of water. Prentiss said something as he raised it to his lips, making Ianto grin. The sight of that grin being bestowed upon someone else made something dark and unpleasant squirm in Jack's stomach. Catching Toshiko's sympathetic gaze through the Plexiglas containment walls didn't help, either.

'Yeah, we're ready,' Owen answered, his focus on Prentiss' vital signs. 'I've got enough here for a baseline. Anything above or below and I'll know he's in danger.'

'That'd be a shame,' Jack muttered then he tapped his ear piece. 'Toshiko. Ready?'

'Everything is ready to go here, Jack,' she said through the communication channel, nodding at him.

'I want you and Ianto out now,' he said, and saw Ianto turn to look at him. 'We don't know what this thing will do if it is activated. I won't risk either of you.'

Ianto looked set to argue, opening his mouth, before he snapped it shut and nodded. He touched his own ear piece. 'Coming out now.'

Jack watched him turn back to Prentiss, who nodded at something Ianto said before patting his shoulder. Jack forced back his urge to snap out an order for Prentiss to stop all the damn touching and turned to look at Gwen who'd stepped up beside him.

'Could this really be dangerous for Matthew?' she asked quietly, eyes on the dark-haired man who was now alone, eyeing the sphere with suspicion. 'Perhaps there's another way...?'

'There isn't,' Jack said bluntly, glancing at Ianto as he drew level with them before gesturing to Toshiko. 'Right. Let's do it.'

Toshiko gave him a nod then pressed a button that would open communication between themselves and the sealed-off artifact room. 'Whenever you're ready, Matthew,' she said, giving him a quick smile when his head snapped around to stare, startled, at her. 'We're monitoring you and the sphere. Just go ahead and try touching it.'

Prentiss' shoulders squared as he took a deep breath then they all watched as he turned towards the sphere and reached out a hand. The second his finger touched the metal, the clanging sirens of the rift predictor filled the air and they were all disorientated by a blinding flash of gold.

Jack shut his eyes, instinctively reaching for Ianto's arm with one hand to pull him away, and his Webley with the other. As the bright light began to slowly fade, he lifted his arm and pointed the pistol in the direction of the artifact room.

'Toshiko, what was that?' he called urgently, not taking his eyes off the spot where he'd last seen Prentiss and the sphere.

'Massive rift spike,' she called back. 'Something came through, Jack. Right here.'

'God, Jack, look...' he heard Ianto breathe, and then he saw them: three shadowy figures in the artifact room where there should only have been one.

Owen summed Jack's thoughts up perfectly with a vehement, 'Shit.'

*

 

Matthew squeezed his eyes closed tightly as he reached out for the sphere, a silent mantra of fuckfuckfuckfuck looping in his mind. As his fingers made contact with the cool surface, a blinding light filled the room and he cried out in shock. He tried to move his hand, but it wouldn't budge. The sphere became hot under his fingers, the metal warming until it was a scorching red, but his skin didn't burn. The heat spread through his body; Matthew could feel it as it seared through his veins, could feel it setting every single cell on fire.

He was breathing hard now, his chest rising and falling fast, and his heart was pounding a rapid staccato beat. His legs trembled beneath him and, as the golden glow began to fade, Matthew began to lose the battle to stay upright and conscious. He tried to cry out for help, but the words dried up on his tongue when he realised that he was no longer alone in the room. It wasn't until the shadowy figures came closer, and he saw pure black eyes and pale skin stretched over long, thin faces, that he gave up his struggle and fell like a stone to the floor.

*

 

The sirens screamed and lights flashed all around the Hub. Toshiko called out, 'We're going into lock down,' as her fingers frantically flew over the keyboard.

Over the cacophony of noise, Jack heard Ianto yell, 'Matthew!' as he surged forward, intent on reaching the other man. Jack grabbed him by the arm, yanking him back until he was pressed against Jack's chest. 'No,' he hissed into Ianto's ear, wrapping an arm around the struggling man's waist. 'Wait.'

Ianto was tense, stiff, in his arms as they stared through the Plexiglas walls of the room. Jack winced when he saw Matthew drop like a puppet with its strings cut and Ianto began to struggle anew. 'Stop, Ianto!' he snapped then called, 'Owen?'

'Blood pressure is elevated,' Owen answered, his gaze fixed on the screens showing Matthew's vital signs. 'But his heart rate and breathing are leveling out.' He looked at Ianto and Jack. 'He's unconscious, but he's alright.'

'For now,' Ianto growled, pushing Jack's arm away and bringing up his gun. 'Who the hell are they?'

Jack stepped around Ianto, gun drawn and steady, and held out his other arm to indicate the others should hold their positions as he slowly moved closer. 'Hello,' he called, his voice light as he approached the artifact room. At first, it was still difficult to see more than dark outlines, but as he got nearer and saw bone-white, translucent skin contrasting with short dark hair and black, round eyes in a near-human face, his body froze in shock.

'No,' he whispered, tilting his head as if a different angle would make him believe he was seeing something he'd truly thought to be a myth. 'Impossible.'

As the last of the light faded, the taller figure – long and slim and so delicate – turned to him and a melodious greeting resonated in his head.

'Loh, Captain Jack Harkness. Il huf prthm ba jev.'

It had been a long, long time, but Jack would never forget his xenolinguistics tutor's patient, precise voice reciting common use phrases in all the Ancient Languages while his thirteen-year-old student longed to be in the sand dunes outside, having a quick fumble with a willing partner.

Hello, Captain Jack Harkness. We bring no ill will.'

A surprised breath rushed from his lungs and he lowered his gun. 'Well,' he said, more to himself than the others, who were waiting for answers. 'How about that?'

'Jack!'

Gwen's voice, edged with fear, broke through his astonishment, and Jack chanced a quick glance over his shoulder. Gwen and Ianto's right arms were outstretched, the hand wrapped around the butt of their guns steady and sure despite the confusion on their faces. Owen's finger was curled around the trigger guard of his own weapon – held loosely at his side while he checked and rechecked Matthew's vital signs. Toshiko's gun was beside her keyboard as she silenced the alarms and raced to bring up any and all information at their disposal.

His team. God, he loved them.

'Put those away,' he said, with a glance from Gwen to Ianto. 'They aren't hostile. They... they are... I thought they were a story, a myth...' He shook his head then reiterated, 'They aren't armed. Put your weapons away.'

He holstered his own gun in example, watching with unexpected gratitude as Ianto lowered his - immediately and without question. Even in their current state of flux, Ianto was completely loyal.

Gwen, typically, opened her mouth to question him, gun still held high, but Jack brushed past her to stand beside Owen, half an eye on their visitors – now eyeing Gwen and her gun with a fearless curiosity – and half an eye on Owen's screen. 'How is he?'

'Beginning to show signs of coming around,' Owen said, thumbing his safety back on and shoving his gun inside the waistband of his jeans. 'Will your friendly aliens stay friendly long enough for me to get to Prentiss?'

'They're a peaceful race,' Jack said with a nod to Ianto as Owen swiftly gathered up a tank of oxygen and a mask. 'Ianto, help Owen. Toshiko, don't bother with that.' Her hands paused on the keyboard and she cast an offended look at Jack who was striding towards the artifact room as he spoke. 'You won't find anything on the mainframe or in the archives about them.'

Ianto looked at Jack with just as much affront as Toshiko, clearly piqued by the perceived insult to his archives, before falling in beside him. Owen brought up the rear with his tank.

Gwen, gun still held high, glared at Jack as they moved past her. 'Jack, who are they?' she asked, fear and annoyance making her voice strident.

Jack shook his head and put a hand on the door handle. 'In a minute, Gwen,' he said with a deferential nod at the aliens who glided smoothly away from the prone body on the floor.

Jack opened the door and gestured to Prentiss' body, receiving a nod of affirmation from the obvious leader before letting Owen into the room. He kept one hand on the butt of his gun, just in case he was remembering his history lessons incorrectly.

'Loh,' Jack said in greeting, and the taller of the aliens looked pleased. A long-fingered hand fiddled with something at the throat of the filmy robe, Jack's fingers tightening on his gun for a moment before he recognised the translator.

'Hello, Captain Jack Harkness,' the obvious leader said in slightly stilted English, voice flowing like warm water over Jack's senses. 'That is what you are called in this time, correct?'

Jack was startled by their knowledge, but simply nodded. 'And what should we call you?' he asked, shifting to let Ianto through the door when Owen indicated Matthew was ready to move.

'I am called Zie in your tongue,' the taller said. 'And my companion is Neis.'

'Loh,' Jack said with a smile, but the companion did not respond, simply staring at Jack with an expressionless gaze.

'Neis will not respond,' Zie told Jack. 'No need to converse at this time.' Zie turned dark eyes on Owen and Ianto. 'The Half is not harmed, Doctor Owen Harper. He is... ' Those unblinking eyes glazed for a moment then cleared. '... lacking consciousness, but life signs indicate continued existence. We would not harm the Half.'

Owen and Ianto lifted Matthew between them, Owen throwing Jack a wary look as they passed him. 'How do they know who I am?' he asked. 'And what's with all 'the half' bullshit?'

'They have a high level of psychic ability,' Jack replied then directed his next comments at Zie. 'If I'm recalling my history – or rather, my future – correctly, the Yungre are a peaceful, empathic race who live in complete seclusion from the rest of the universe, never leaving their planet, never allowing visitors to theirs. I am correct, aren't I? You are Yungre?'

Zie's head inclined gracefully. 'You are correct, Captain. Our family rarely travels outside our planet, but sometimes...' A glance at Neis, whose eyes were tracking Matthew across the Hub, '... need insists we must.'

Zie and Neis turned their gazes upon Jack as one, and Jack gasped, staggering backwards under the sudden flood of grief and helplessness that threatened to drown him. Bone deep sorrow made his heart clench, and the suffocating pain of loss almost folded him in half.

'Jack!' Gwen cried, grabbing hold of him as he stumbled. 'What happened? What did they do?'

'It's okay,' Jack told her breathlessly as the feeling subsided. He tried to relieve her of some of his weight, bracing himself on Owen's desk with a shaking hand. He blinked away the involuntary tears pooled at the corners of his eyes and stared at Zie and Neis. 'They're just projecting... God, they're in such pain...'

'I offer apologies,' Zie said, genuine regret radiating from every lyrical word. 'We did not intend to harm Captain Jack Harkness or the Half. We are... hurting. We are... dying.'

As one, Zie and Neis' eyes shifted to the Medical Bay where Owen and Ianto had taken Matthew. 'We need the Half,' Zie said softly. 'We need the Half to save our family.'

*

 

Matthew's eyes blinked slowly open and he hazarded a smile at the anxious face looming over him. 'I may need the kiss of life,' he rasped, and Ianto grinned in relief.

'I'm sure Owen would be pleased to oblige,' he countered, and Matthew heard a snort.

'Snogging unconscious patients is Jack's job.' A white coat clad arm pushed Ianto out of the way then Harper was shining a light in his eyes. 'What's your name?'

Matthew sighed. 'Matthew Prentiss, I'm twenty-eight years old, I have two children – Sarah and Georgia – and am currently on what I'm really hoping isn't an autopsy table in a secret, alien-hunting agency that exists beneath a massive great phallic symbol. Not a coincidence, I'm guessing, after meeting your boss.'

Owen snorted. 'I prefer to call it an examination table for the mortally challenged,' he quipped, running his hands over Matthew's head before giving him a nod. 'Ask Jack about the rest. Right, you're fine. Get out of here and meet what came out of the sphere.'

Matthew was sitting up as Owen spoke and jolted when he mentioned the sphere. 'What?' he asked, chest tightening in panic. 'What came out of the sphere?' He looked at Ianto, who was glaring at Owen. 'Did something knock me out?'

'No, you fainted,' Owen muttered, giving him a sly, side-long glance, and Ianto quickly interjected.

'We don't know where they came from,' he said, taking Matthew's elbow as he slid off the table and steering him towards the stairs. 'It was the sheer force of the energy spike that made you lose consciousness. It was more powerful than the spike at your house yesterday.'

'Who are 'they'?' Matthew asked, digging in his heels as he and Ianto reached the top of the stairs. 'Ianto?'

Ianto hesitated, staring at Matthew for a long moment before glancing out into the work area. 'See for yourself,' he said softly, nodding his head towards the medical bay exit.

Matthew gazed at Ianto, searching his face for a clue as to what he was about to see, but Ianto simply gave him an encouraging smile and stood back. Taking it on faith that Ianto, at least, would not send him into danger, Matthew took a deep breath then stepped forward.

'Holy...' he murmured, staring at the humanoid shaped, but so obviously not human figures in their diaphanous robes who now turned from their conversation with Harkness to look right at Matthew. Their dark, intense gazes made Matthew feel as though they could see right into him, into his head, then suddenly, the fear was gone, replaced with the sensation of warmth, of comfort, of coming home after a long absence.

Matthew let out a long breath. 'Oh.' Then, he smiled.

*

 

Jack watched the silent communication between Prentiss and their visitors, reluctant to break whatever connection that might have been forged. His eyes slid, instead, to Ianto, who was watching Matthew closely, and a frown wrinkled his brow. Ianto had taken far more interest in Prentiss' case than he had in any other, and in Prentiss himself, if his earlier concern was anything to go by.

He knew how compassionate Ianto could be, but he also knew the other man hid his heart under a veneer of pragmatism and practicality, fully aware of the damage Torchwood could wreak upon it. It wasn't often he saw Ianto like this – his feelings splashed across his face – and, if he were being honest, he didn't particularly like it. Since Lisa, Jack had been the sole beneficiary of the bliss that was Ianto Jones uncontrolled, and it made Jack twitch to see someone else the focus of that loss of restraint.

Ianto met his eye, and, to Jack's dismay, his guard come back up. Jack stopped his petulant scowl in its tracks - If Ianto's going to hide then so will I - and turned back to the Yungre.

They seemed to sense the upcoming interruption and, together, Zie and Neis turned in a half-circle to face Jack. 'You have questions,' Zie said beatifically. 'We have answers.'

Jack nodded then glanced at Gwen. 'Get the conference room ready,' he ordered before looking at Ianto. 'Food and drinks? Please.'

Ianto inclined his head and opened his mouth, but before he could ask the obvious question, Zie spoke up. 'The liquid of this planet is digestible, Ianto Jones, but solid sustenance is not required.'

Ianto barely blinked – oh, his guard was well and truly back in place now – before murmuring his understanding and taking his leave. Jack's eyes followed him until he was out of sight then he smiled at a thoughtful looking Zie.

'Let's all get a bit more comfortable.'

*

 

No one was hungry. Zie – amenable to being called 'he' after Gwen blurted out the inevitable question – studied Toshiko's programs on the mainframe and shared what looked like a private joke with Neis (Ianto assumed it was at the expense of their primitive technology). Neis' face didn't move, he didn't make a sound, but he radiated amusement as he turned his attention back to Matthew.

Neis still hadn't said a single word, his – Gwen, again – wide, dark eyes never wavering from Matthew's face. Matthew didn't appear uneasy with the attention, Ianto realised. In fact, he seemed to find some kind of comfort in it; he was smiling easily and studied Neis with as much interest as was being directed at him.

Ianto glanced at Jack who was being oddly submissive and subdued, allowing Zie to guide the small talk and not making one flirtatious remark. He was surprised to see that Jack had been watching him instead of their visitors, and Jack shifted awkwardly in his seat when he realised he'd been caught. He gave Ianto a small smile, and, before he could help himself, Ianto felt himself smiling back, hating that his heart leaped when a spark of happiness flared in Jack's eyes.

'Jack, could we get on with this?' Owen's abrasive voice broke the warmth of the moment, and Ianto looked away, annoyed at his instinctive reaction to the Harkness charm, even when it was muted. He was smart and, usually, quite sensible, so Ianto was completely bewildered as to how he'd found himself so hopelessly in love with such an impossible man.

Love? God, when did that happen?

Jack cleared his throat then glanced at Zie, waving a hand in a seemingly universally known 'it's all yours' motion. 'Perhaps we could start with how you got here,' Jack suggested mildly.

Zie inclined his head then pulled a small pebble-shaped device from his filmy robe and placed it on the table. 'We are Yungre,' he said as he dragged a long digit over the device. 'We come from far away in distance and time.'

A hologram appeared: stars and planets up close – bright and brilliant in the black velvet of space as they rushed past, the image hovering just above the surface of the conference table.

'Oh, wow!' Gwen said, the words bursting from her with an awe and wonder that Ianto envied. He looked at her animated face and, for the first time, truly understood what it was Jack loved about her. There was an innocence in her that the rest of them had lost long ago and it made Ianto's jaded soul sing with mutual joy.

'Our home was once for family,' Zie continued, reaching out into the hologram and touching a small planet with a light pink aura and two moons. He cupped the planet reverently in his hands. 'Only family.'

Jack leaned on his forearms, his gaze fixed on the slowly rotating world between Zie's palms. 'You were isolated,' he said softly. 'It was told that no Yungre ever left their home world to visit other planets, and that no other species ever made it onto Yungre soil.'

Zie nodded at Jack. 'To keep our family intact and safe, we must keep our blood pure. It was one of our sacred learnings.'

'Inbreeding,' Owen muttered, under his breath, receiving a cutting glare from Jack.

'Was?' queried Ianto gently as a distraction, and Zie turned towards him. A mind-numbing sadness overwhelmed Ianto and he gasped for breath, his fingers tightening around the arms of his chair as he trembled. Through the haze of sorrow, he noticed Matthew hunch over, tears streaming down his face.

'Zie, stop,' Jack said firmly, and the feeling dissipated, leaving Ianto shaky and hollow, and Matthew sniffling as he wiped his face.

'I offer apologies,' Zie said mournfully, dark eyes wide and sincere. 'I am not accustomed to communicating with words. I forget the human mind can not tolerate a strong empathic or telepathic connection. '

'You read minds?' Gwen piped up, reaching out to pat Ianto's quivering hand soothingly. 'That's how you communicate?'

'Transference of emotion or thoughts between two entities,' Toshiko murmured, eyes still on the data scrolling across her laptop screen. 'Reading minds is a cheap parlour trick performed by pay-by-the-minute psychics.'

Gwen looked insulted, her hand sliding off Ianto's wrist as Zie spoke once more. 'In answer to Ianto Jones' question: there were some family who wished to rebel against our learnings, who sought fulfillment outside our race,' he told them, Ianto shivering at the palpable sadness in his voice. 'We could not allow our blood to be tainted. We could not allow our blood to be spilled across the universe. Visitors were not welcomed to our home, and our children were taught to lie with another was to betray your family.' He blinked once, slowly, and his tone was as mild as ever when he said, 'Precautions were taken to prevent consequences arising from betrayal.'

'The curse?' Jack whispered, staring hard at Zie who met his gaze unwaveringly. 'God, are you saying that's real?'

'What curse?' Owen asked, looking from a rapidly paling Jack to a still-serene Zie.

Jack's mouth hung open in shocked disbelief, his eyes narrowing as he spoke. 'It was said that the Yungre had a... curse in their blood. That if a Yungre were to lie with another species, their offspring would be... ' Jack exhaled sharply and shook his head. 'Monstrous.'

Zie never lost his calm countenance, but his tone was aggrieved. 'Words become twisted with time,' he said, looking at Matthew, who was frowning deeply. 'The Yungre are a peaceful race. The Yungre would not wish hurt upon an innocent.'

He looked back towards Jack, gaze steady. 'The precaution was to ensure no offspring were born with tainted Yungre blood. Yungre blood will not mix with the blood of other species. Any conception of such a match would not be viable.'

Owen leaned forward, his eyes on Zie. 'Hold on,' he said, his voice holding more than a little outrage as he caught on. 'You lot engineered a genetic trigger in your blood to stimulate a spontaneous miscarriage?'

'What?' Gwen gasped, her hand rising to cover her mouth.

'Yungre blood should not be spilled across the universe,' Zie responded calmly in the face of Owen's growing rage. 'Precautions were taken to prevent that circumstance.'

'You... what the fuck gives you the right...?' Owen spluttered, rising out of his chair, but Jack held out a restraining hand.

'Owen, this was done centuries – millennia – ago,' he said, putting his outstretched hand on Owen's shoulder. He squeezed lightly and nodded at the doctor to sit back down.

'Bloody barbaric,' Owen snapped, but Jack just shook his head, giving him a little push back into his seat before turning to Zie. His mouth opened, but Ianto beat him to it.

'So if you had precautions in place to prevent... cross-species breeding then how do you explain Matthew?' He raised an eyebrow. 'I'm assuming that's why you're here. "The Half", you called him. Half-blood? He's half human, half Yungre, isn't he?'

Zie's face didn't change, but everyone at the table could feel the satisfaction emanating from him. 'That assumption is correct, Ianto Jones. Matthew Prentiss has Yungre blood.'

'So your attempt at the creating the supreme race failed,' Owen snorted, and Jack flashed him a cutting glare.

'Owen, don't make presumptions about things you don't understand,' he said warningly.

'When you were studying Earth history, Jack,' Owen said cuttingly, 'did you happen to catch that mention of Hitler?'

'Yungre do not wish harm to other sentient beings, Doctor Owen Harper,' Zie said before Jack could answer. 'We do not wish extinction upon the human race, upon any race. We simply wish for our blood to remain unsullied.'

Owen opened his mouth once more, but Toshiko spoke over him. 'So the inhibitor obviously failed since Matthew's line exists,' she said, tilting her head. 'How many generations...?'

'My great-grandmother was Yungre,' Matthew broke in then he looked puzzled by his comment. 'How... how do I know that?'

Pleasure rolled in waves over the group as Zie and Neis turned as one towards Matthew. 'You know what we know now, Matthew Prentiss. You see what we see,' Zie said softly then Matthew's eyes widened, He gasped for air, his body going rigid as his his hands clutching at the edge of the table.

'Stop it!' Ianto snapped, just as Gwen made a squeaking noise, and Jack jumped to his feet with a firm, 'No!'

Matthew slumped down in his seat as the tension drained from him. He panted a little, haunted eyes shifting to focus on Ianto, who turned to glare at Zie and Neis, a flood of protectiveness making his temper spike. 'It is considered impolite to invade a human mind without first asking permission,' he said tartly, ignoring Jack's hissed admonishment. 'Particularly when you've already caused that human to black out twice in the last two days.'

'Ianto,' Matthew said breathlessly as he shook his head, silently asking Ianto to let it go. Ianto bit his tongue and nodded his understanding. His gaze shifted to Jack, who was frowning in obvious displeasure, his eyes shifting between Ianto and Matthew.

'I can show everyone what Matthew Prentiss saw,' Zie said, his lilting voice breaking the rising tension. 'You will see we wish no harm upon the Half.'

Jack's gaze lingered for another moment on Ianto then he turned to Zie and said in a disgruntled tone, 'Do it.'

*

 

Matthew was relieved when, an hour later, a rattled Jack suggested they take a break, and he fled the room as quickly as possible. He made his way back down to the cells – the only place he could think of to get away from the others – and threw himself on the thin mattress.

He pulled his legs up to his chest and pressed his forehead to his knees. 'Shit,' he whispered, the word slipping tremulously from his lips. What they'd shown him – his past, his heritage – had shaken up every single belief and fact he'd had about his family, about himself. Now, nothing was how it was, and Matthew didn't have a clue where he fit in anymore.

And what they wanted him to do... He could feel a wail of despair forming in his chest and he swallowed it back with difficulty. There was a presence inside him, something that felt so foreign yet so familiar, and it was trying to soothe him, but he rejected the comfort, his mind shouting at it to leave him alone. It receded reluctantly, but it remained within reach – warm and serene – and waiting for him to embrace it.

'Matthew?'

Ianto's voice was gentle – too gentle – and Matthew shuddered, pressing his cheek harder against his knee as tears stung his eyes. He felt the mattress dip then careful fingers touched his shoulder lightly.

'Matthew.'

'Oh, hell, Ianto,' he mumbled, screwing his face up tight. 'Who am I now? What am I?'

The hand slid slowly to his nape, cupping the back of his neck comfortingly, and Matthew let himself go. This was the reassurance he wanted. Solid and real and human. He leaned into Ianto's shoulder, burying his face in his expensive jacket as wrenching sobs shook him apart.

*

 

Jack watched the CCTV footage of the cells on his monitor, watching as Ianto let Matthew cry all over his suit. He pressed his lips together tightly, uncomfortable with Ianto's growing attachment to the other man, and wondering if he should have let Gwen go after Matthew as she'd begun to do rather than holding her back and letting Ianto follow. He'd been both warmed and annoyed by Ianto's surprised, grateful look of thanks. Did Ianto really think he'd let Matthew be alone in that state? After being told that he was part alien? After finding out what Zie and Neis were here to ask of him? Had they really become that distant from each other?

'Jack?'

'Mm?'

He looked up, startled to see Gwen perched on the corner of his desk, a quizzical expression on her face. 'You're watching Ianto?' she asked, eyes sliding to the CCTV.

Jack spun his chair, standing abruptly and striding towards the door. 'Something you wanted?' he asked as he walked, pausing in the doorway and raising an eyebrow pointedly as he waited for her to follow.

Gwen smiled knowingly then trailed after him as he made his way to the work level. 'I was just wondering how you're going to refuse Zie's request,' she said as Jack stopped behind Toshiko's chair, staring at the screen over her shoulder. 'You said they aren't violent, but we're talking big stakes for them here...'

'I wasn't going to refuse them,' Jack said absently, watching as Toshiko entered all they'd learned that day about the Yungre.

'Excuse me?' Gwen said, after a moment's hesitation. 'You're not going to refuse...?'

'It's not my place to refuse them,' Jack broke in, turning to face her. He crossed his arms over his chest. 'It's up to Matthew.'

'You can't allow him to...'

'I can't stop him if he wants to do it.'

'You're going to let them force him...'

'Yungre do not employ violence, Gwen Cooper,' a soft voice said. 'We will not require force.'

Gwen whirled around, her hair slapping Jack across the chest. 'You can't think he would do this willingly?' Gwen said, her face contorting in disbelief. 'You think he would give up everything...'

'We know he will,' Zie said with a certainty that made Gwen's mouth gape. 'He is but Half, but he is Yungre. He will not allow his family to die.'

Gwen shook her head angrily. 'How can you be so sure?'

Tolerant assurance flowed from Zie. 'We have seen,' he replied gently. 'Matthew Prentiss will save the Yungre.'

*

 

'I can't do it.'

Ianto nodded. 'It's an unreasonable request for them to make,' he agreed.

'Unreasonable?' Matthew barked out, pausing in his pacing to stare at Ianto. 'That's a fucking understatement. It's insane!'

He resumed his lengthy strides, taking him from one side of the cell to the other. Three full steps then shorten the forth. 'They want me to go with them,' he said, still in shock from hearing Zie's reason for leaving his home planet for the first time. 'They want me to... save them.'

He stopped mid-step and looked at Ianto. 'I don't even understand how I can help,' he said in frustration. 'All that stuff about blood went over my head.'

'Sounds like you need a doctor,' Harper said as he appeared in the doorway, making both Matthew and Ianto start. Harper smirked at their reaction then entered the cell, dumping his medical bag on the ground beside Ianto's feet. 'I need more of your apparently miraculous blood to analyse. I want to see if what they want can be done here rather than them taking you with them.'

Matthew shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself as he moved to the bed. He slumped down beside Ianto, the warmth radiating from the other man beginning to melt what felt like a block of ice inside him. He saw Harper note their proximity with a pointed glance at Ianto, but Ianto simply glared back at him as Harper tugged Matthew's sleeve up.

'Do you think you can do... whatever they want me to do?' Matthew asked unsteadily, wincing as the needle slid home then watching the dark red blood trickle into the vial Harper's cold hands held.

Harper glanced up at him quickly then looked back down at the rapidly filling vial. 'Did you understand any of it?' he asked. 'The bit about how you actually came about?'

Matthew shook his head. 'I was trying to shut them out,' he admitted. 'They're in my head and I couldn't concentrate...'

He grimaced and Harper sighed. 'In short, one of their women got fed up with never shagging anyone but Yungre and left their planet. They found a human and got themselves knocked up.'

He looked up again before removing the full vial and replacing it with an empty one. 'I just scanned Zie. When they made their little abortion gene, they weren't quite thorough enough. Humans and Yungre are quite alike in physiology. The gene didn't activate because it didn't recognise the human DNA as foreign.'

'So Matthew's great-grandparents settled on Earth in the twentieth century, and the gene was just passed down through the generations?' Ianto surmised.

Owen nodded, removing the second vial and sliding in a third. 'It's completely benign unless Matthew procreates with another species and gets them pregnant,' he said, grinning at Matthew's horrified face. 'The foreign DNA combination will trigger a spontaneous miscarriage.' He shook his head in disgust. 'I don't care how they justify it. It's wrong.'

He removed the third vial of blood then carefully slid the needle from Matthew's vein. He pressed a square of absorbent padding over the spot of blood that welled from the needle stick, saying, 'Hold that, would you?' before carefully placing the collected blood in his bag.

'But what can my blood do for them?' Matthew asked, holding the padding firmly. 'How did they even know I existed? How did they find me?'

'Jack thinks that your DNA acted like a magnet, drawing the beacon – the sphere - to you,' Ianto said, answering Matthew's last question with a pensive expression. 'He said the physical contact that activated the sphere which then sent a message to Yungre and... enter Zie and Neis. They've never left their planet before. They must be desperate for help.'

All three men paused as they recalled the wash of raw grief they'd all experienced when Zie had explained the situation earlier. Harper shook himself and shrugged, snatching up his bag. 'I guess the Yungre figured out too late that the more rules you slap on a kid, the more they rebel. It was always bound to happen – someone breaks free, sows some wild oats then sees sense and comes home, bringing an unwelcome infection with them.' Owen snorted in disbelief. 'That lot have been so cloistered, so protected in their own universe that the viruses and bacteria our lot have apparently spread across the universe in the future are fatal to them. I can't believe that the human race made it to the stars, but they still haven't cured influenza.'

Ianto shook his head. 'It's mind-boggling to think that something that is nothing more than a couple of weeks of inconvenience for us, is capable of wiping out an entire race.'

'The Yungre's bodies can't fight the influenza virus off,' Owen sighed. 'They've never been exposed to it and have no immunity. The way Zie talks, it sounds like they're all dropping like flies.'

'Will you be able to use my blood to fix them?' Matthew asked Harper, biting his lip. As much as he resented the way his life, his mind, and his body had been turned upside down and inside out, he'd felt such a connection to Zie and Neis. The thought of them losing everything made every bit of him hurt. 'There isn't any cure for influenza.'

Harper shrugged. 'It's worth a try. We have a vaccine to ease flu symptoms so I can work with that, and they seem to think it's possible that a cure can be synthesized using your human immune system which will hopefully be compatible with theirs because of your combined blood,' he answered, hesitating on his way out of the cell. 'I expect their technology is more advanced than ours, but it's worth a try if it means you don't have to go with them.'

Matthew watched him turn and leave, anxiety making his stomach roil. He was terrified by what Zie had asked him to do – travel to another planet from which it was unlikely he'd return - but what frightened him the most was not what they were asking him to do, but the fact that a little part of him wanted to do it.

*

 

Jack was chewing the end of a pen and staring off into middle distance, his mind working over the events of the day, when Ianto knocked on his door. Jack blinked then shot a half-hearted smile at Ianto and waved him into the room. 'Since when do you knock?' he asked, throwing the pen back onto his desk.

Ianto's lips tightened as he sat in a chair opposite Jack's desk. 'I wasn't sure where everyone else was,' he answered. 'I didn't want to interrupt...'

'Gwen and Tosh are out on a call, and Owen's examining Zie and Neis,' Jack told him, resting his forearms on the desk and putting his weight on his elbows. 'He's trying to figure out the similarities and differences in our physiology and work out if he can help find a antiviral inhibitor that will work well enough without them taking Matthew.'

'And if he can't?' Ianto asked warily. 'Matthew won't go with them, Jack. They're asking too much.'

Jack nodded. 'I know it's a big ask,' Jack said softly. 'But you need to think of it from their point of view. In their world, family is everything. Every one of the Yungre would give their lives if it meant the survival of future generations, the continuation of the species. It's an inherent instinct...'

'But Matthew isn't one of them!'

Jack smiled ruefully. 'But he is, Ianto,' he said, his tone gentle.

Ianto shook his head, his face flushed in anger. 'If it were up to them, he wouldn't even exist,' he argued vehemently. 'He's lived as a human for his entire life. They can't expect...'

'Ianto,' Jack broke in. 'They don't see in grey like we do. That's one of the reasons they manufactured this... DNA time bomb in the first place. It's family and nothing else for them. Yes, Matthew's existence is something they tried to prevent occurring, but he has Yungre blood in his veins. He's family, and family helps family.'

Ianto remained defiantly resolute in his disapproval. Jack stood and moved around his desk, dragging another chair over to Ianto and sitting down beside him. 'You saw it yourself,' Jack reminded him. 'When they first arrived. That look on Matthew's face. It was...'

'...like coming home,' Ianto murmured, deflating a little. 'He looked like he'd found something he'd been missing.' He slumped, staring down at his hands for several long seconds then he asked, 'Jack, what will they do to him if he won't go with them?'

'Nothing,' Jack said promptly.

Ianto looked up at him with a frown. 'Nothing? But they'll all die if they don't find a cure and you said they'd do anything for family.'

'The only thing Yungre value more than family is peace,' Jack said with a small smile. 'They are pacifists, they are loyal and they look after each other. There's no war, no conflict, no hunger or poverty...'

'Sounds like Utopia,' Ianto snorted.

Jack stared at him, frozen for a long moment in a rush of bad memories, then he shook himself. 'No,' he said shakily. 'There's no such thing.'

He cleared his throat, aware of Ianto's curious gaze upon him. 'By my time, there is no such thing as a one hundred percent human. When you lot reach the stars, you seem to make it a priority to screw your way around the rest of the universe as quickly as possible. Human curiosity and adaptation – it's a beautiful thing.'

The left side of Ianto's mouth quirked up in a half-smile and he exhaled an amused huff of air. Jack felt inordinately pleased by the tiny smile and continued, confidence bolstered. 'But not the Yungre. They chose to isolate themselves from the rest of the universe out of... arrogance, fear, pride... I'm not sure.'

He sighed and scrubbed a hand across his tired eyes. 'But now, they're paying the price. No one can help them because no one knows them. There have been no studies done on their biological make up, no medical knowledge of how their immune systems would react to common treatments for the flu virus...' Jack sighed sadly. 'Their desire for their kind to remain pure is going to kill them all.'

They sat in silence for several loaded seconds then Ianto said softly, 'You aren't going to make him go with them?'

Jack winced, looking at Ianto out of the corner of his eye. 'Did you think I would?'

Ianto inhaled deeply then shook his head. 'I don't know. I know you do what you have to do to protect Earth...'

'This isn't one of those situations where I have to decide between one human life and saving the Earth, Ianto,' Jack said, a little too sharply as memories of Jasmine and Beth crashed through him. 'This is between Matthew and the Yungre. I'm not going to fight their battles for them. I've got enough of my own.'

'Sorry, I didn't mean to...'

'It's fine,' Jack whispered, slumping back into his chair and closing his eyes briefly before glancing at Ianto. 'Let Matthew know that whatever he decides, Torchwood will be on his side.'

Ianto nodded, but instead of leaving as Jack thought he would, he lingered, an uncertain expression on his face. Jack cocked his head. 'Are you alright?'

Ianto's startled gaze snapped towards Jack, meeting his eyes briefly before he nodded brusquely. 'I'm fine.'

Jack smiled then exhaled sharply before he said, 'Listen, I was thinking about getting some dinner in.'

Ianto stood immediately. 'Any preferences as to what I should order?'

'Actually,' said Jack, rising to his feet. 'I thought I might go and get some fresh air and collect something on the way back.' He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. 'I feel like I've been stuck here for weeks without seeing the surface.'

Ianto smiled tightly, his hands moving to rest on his hips. 'You want me to pre-order something?'

'I was craving some of the seafood pasta from that Italian place we went to about a month back,' Jack told him, nervously, hoping he wasn't pushing too hard, but not wanting to break the tiny thread of reconnection. 'I was wondering if you wanted to come with me and get some food to take away? You could use a break as well.'

A small frown creased Ianto's brow, but he shrugged and looked everywhere but at Jack. 'Alright, I'll... see what the others want.'

Jack smiled, relieved Ianto had accepted his olive branch. He followed the other man to the door of his office, almost running into the back of him when Ianto stopped abruptly and spun around.

'Thank you, Jack,' he said softly, and Jack stared at him quizzically.

'For what?' he asked.

Ianto licked his lips, his fingers pulling distractedly at the button of his jacket. 'For answering my questions,' he said haltingly. 'For... listening.'

Jack was slightly taken aback then he gave Ianto a rueful smile. 'I guess I don't do that too often, huh?' he said regretfully. 'If it's unusual enough for you to thank me for it.'

Ianto looked uncomfortable, but didn't back away from the question. 'No, you don't,' he agreed, meeting and holding Jack's gaze without flinching. 'It's nice. To just talk.'

'Yeah,' Jack said, smiling brightly. 'It is.'

For a moment, Jack thought Ianto was going to kiss him, but then Owen's voice echoed around the cavernous Hub...

'Oi! The girls are starving to death! Any chance of some dinner?'

*

 

Zie and Neis watched Matthew eat from across the conference table, their eyes unblinking. Matthew squirmed under the weight of their combined gazes, trying to quash the part of him - the alien part of me - that was responding to the serene happiness Zie was projecting.

I won't think about it. I can't do what they want.

Toshiko and Owen were debating the finer points of metabolic... something... and Jack and Ianto were pretending to listen while shooting each other covert glances when they thought no one was watching. Gwen was switching between watching Jack and Ianto dance around each other with an oddly conflicted expression, and staring at Matthew as though he were a zoo exhibit. Matthew was this close to losing his mind when she finally spoke.

'Can you feel their... emotions now?'

Toshiko stopped mid-sentence and blinked at Gwen then looked at Matthew curiously. He flinched at the attention, but nodded. 'Yeah,' he muttered, poking at a piece of spiral pasta.

'What's it feel like? Is it... is there a voice or a connection or...?'

'Gwen...' Jack said warningly.

'It's fine,' Matthew said, bitingly then looked at Gwen. 'It's like part of me that was asleep is now awake and it won't shut up.'

Gwen's eyes widened as Owen and Jack tried to disguise their laughter as coughs and throat clearing. Gwen shot them each a look that promised pain if they didn't shut up then turned back to Matthew.

'You know you don't have to go with them, Matthew?' she said softly, casting a dark glare towards Zie, who was watching the interchange with interest. 'Even if Owen can't find a cure for them.'

'He knows that, Gwen,' Ianto said, a little more snappishly than usual. She looked at him in surprise and he flinched. 'Sorry. I... I'm a bit tired.'

She smiled understandingly and went back to her food. Matthew gave Ianto a grateful glance then was startled by Zie's fluid voice.

'It is your blood,' he said, sending a wave of comfort and reassurance washing over Matthew. 'It sings to you. We can hear your blood calling as ours calls to you. You are of us, Matthew Prentiss. Your thoughts and feelings are one with Yungre.'

Matthew felt panic overriding the calm Zie was projecting and shot to his feet, his chair tipping over with a crash. 'I can't! I can't be what you need me to be!' he cried, vaguely aware of Jack and Ianto getting to their feet. 'I can't save you! I'm a teacher! A fucking substitute teacher. I can't save your world!'

To everyone's astonishment, Neis rose to his feet, moving as though he weighed nothing. Suddenly, the presence inside Matthew disappeared and he felt empty. He gasped at the loss, and reached out a hand to grab the table for balance.

'Matthew?' Ianto said, his hand closing around Matthew's arm. 'What is it?'

Matthew stared at Neis in shock. 'Nothing,' he whispered, feeling utterly bereft. 'There's... nothing there anymore.'

'Your blood has been awoken,' Zie murmured, his sadness touching Matthew. His hungry soul reached for the feeling, not caring that it grew into despair as Matthew held it close. But then, it was gone again, and he was left empty, hollow once more. He began to tremble, Ianto's hand tightening on his bicep as Zie said in his soft voice, 'I am sorry, Matthew Prentiss. When the Yungre pass, your blood will not longer sing. There will only be an echo of where we once were. There will only be what you feel now.'

Matthew's eyes began to sting. He felt numb. He felt... dead. 'Oh, God,' he whispered as he swayed, oblivious to Owen's hand on his throat, fumbling for his pulse, or to Ianto and Gwen as they called his name. His heart thumped louder and louder until it was all he could hear as he gazed into Zie's black eyes, his voice bouncing around Matthew's head in his own language; a language Matthew inexplicably understood.

Il chi hdth, Matthew Prentiss. Il chi hdth.

We are sorry, Matthew Prentiss. We are sorry.

*

 

'What the hell happened just now?' Jack asked furiously, spinning on his heel to face Zie and Neis after watching Ianto and Owen help a shaky Matthew to the surface for some fresh air.

He felt a wash of regret sweep over him and shook it off irritably. 'Don't,' he snapped, slamming a hand down on the table. 'What did you do?'

'Captain Jack Harkness,' Zie said calmly. 'The Yungre blood within the Half has awoken. Before our arrival, it slumbered. Now, it longs for family.'

Jack shook his head in disbelief as understanding began to dawn. 'You did this to him. You knew his blood would awaken when you came here. You're manipulating him with his own body,' he said, stunned. 'The part of him that is Yungre will die when you do, won't it? If he doesn't help you cure them, he'll live some kind of... half life?'

'You speak the truth,' Zie said, and Jack fisted his hands, resisting the urge to punch something.

'You had no right...' he began angrily, but stopped in surprise when Neis spoke for the first time, his rough, grating voice nothing like Zie's melodious tones.

'Yungre are a pacifist race, Captain Jack Harkness, but not without means of persuasion. We need the Half to save our family, and we will use every weapon we possess to defend Yungre lives.'

'Matthew Prentiss would have felt our passing even without the awakening,' Zie said, soothingly. 'We simply opened the connection in full.'

'So he'd know exactly what would happen to him if he refused you. You've left him with no choices,' Jack growled, furious with them, with himself for not realising what they were doing. 'He has to help you or live with emptiness.' He glared at Neis. 'Will we be able to synthesise a cure or are we wasting our time trying?'

'Human technology is primitive,' Neis answered. 'Even with Doctor Owen Harper's modifications, it is not equal to Yungre knowledge.'

'So that's a no,' Jack scowled, throwing them a venomous look. 'He has to go with you to give you lot a chance, or live his life with half his soul missing.' He cursed under his breath. 'No wonder you were so damn sure he'd come with you.'

'Yungre protect family,' Neis rasped, his blank, black eyes boring into Jack's. 'The Half now understands what he must do.'

Jack almost bit through his tongue in attempt to control himself then hollered for Gwen and Tosh to return the Yungre to their cell.

*

 

Matthew clenched his fingers tightly around the rail, staring out at the darkened Bay. The cool breeze tangled his hair and cooled his skin, and Matthew closed his eyes, relishing the sensation after days in the dank Hub. He felt unnaturally cold fingers at his throat again, and tried to pull away.

'I'm fine now, Doctor Harper,' he murmured, hearing the man harrumph.

'Last I checked I was the only one here with a medical degree so how about you let me use it, yeah?'

Matthew sighed then heard the rumble of Ianto's quiet laughter beside him before he felt the other man's arm press against his. He opened his eyes and turned his head towards the warmth, catching the frown on Ianto's face before he hid it away.

'How are you feeling, really?' Ianto asked as Harper's fingers disappeared.

'I can feel them again,' Matthew said quietly, touching his chest with his fingertips. 'It's... different, though.'

'How?' Harper asked, cocking his head and staring at Matthew with clinical interest.

'Before, I could feel them, but they were... a separate entity,' Matthew said, frowning as he tried to explain how it felt to be able to feel an entire species' existence in every single cell.

'And now?' Ianto asked softly.

Matthew glanced at him. 'Now, I feel them everywhere. I was so empty, so alone, and then...' He shook his head, unable to fully explain the depths of loneliness he'd experienced. 'They were everywhere, all through me, and it was alright again.'

'You realise this is probably some kind of manipulation?' Harper said abruptly. 'They've done something to you to make you reliant on them to feel good so you'll help them.'

'Through telepathy?' Ianto asked Owen. 'They're controlling his mind?'

'I think it was always there,' Matthew mumbled before Harper could answer. 'It's not... control. I still have free will, I can still choose, but... ' He grimaced. 'Now I understand that my choices aren't particularly fantastic. Go with them and probably never see Earth or my kids again, or stay and let them, let myself, die.'

'It's a threat to get you to do what they want...'

'I can feel them, Ianto,' Matthew said, turning his back on the spluttering Harper to look Ianto in the eye. 'It's... not like that. It's instinctive – the desire to protect them.'

'They took your choices away, just like they did when they designed their little genetic trick,' Harper sneered then he pushed off the railing. 'Fucking aliens. I'm bloody freezing. I'm going back in. You right, Ianto?'

Ianto nodded. 'Tell Jack we'll be down soon.'

Owen scowled and muttered, 'Not your bloody messenger boy,' even as he headed for the door of the Tourist Office.

Neither Ianto nor Matthew spoke. Instead they listened to the lapping of the bay against the boardwalk, and the faint sounds of music and laughter as the Cardiff nightlife kicked off. Matthew closed his eyes again, taking comfort in the fact that he wasn't alone. He could feel Ianto beside him, and Yungre within him. He knew Ianto and Harper were horrified by what they saw as a loss of control, but he knew in his bones that this was what was meant to happen. He was... complete now. He'd found his place with his family.

But he was going to miss Earth.

He turned to Ianto. 'Toshiko said that Jack saved you all. From yourselves, from cells, from grief,' he said curiously. 'Which one did he rescue you from, Ianto Jones?'

Ianto looked over at him and smiled grimly. 'All of the above.'

Matthew saw the sorrow in his eyes. He covered Ianto's hand – resting on the rail – with his own then leaned in and pressed their mouths together.

*

 

Ianto was too surprised to do much more than allow Matthew to kiss him, his hand automatically coming up to clutch at the other man's thin jacket. Matthew pulled back after a few seconds and bit his lip.

'Sorry,' he said with a huff of uncomfortable laughter. 'It's been a long time since I... with another bloke and you are... and, well, I didn't want to leave the planet and not be able to remember what a kiss felt like.'

Ianto couldn't stop the smirk that split his face, even though his heart sank at Matthew's words. He'd obviously made his decision. 'I understand,' he said, clearing his throat. 'You... you're going then?'

'I think I always was, Ianto.'

Ianto sighed then looked towards the Tourist Office. 'We should get back in. See if Jack's ripped apart Zie and Neis.'

'Why would he do that?' Matthew snorted. 'He hates my guts. I would have thought he'd be glad to see the back of me.'

'He doesn't,' Ianto said in Jack's defense. 'Jack understands what it's like to have control taken from you, and he hates it. He would never approve of what they've done.'

Matthew opened his mouth then seemed to think better of whatever he was going to say. Instead, he waved towards the entrance. 'How did a nice Welsh boy get caught up in all this anyway?'

Ianto grinned. 'Torchwood?' he asked, and Matthew nodded.

Ianto stared out over the bay, a wistful smile on his lips as he remembered Lisa's excitement when she told him about her new job and the vacancies in her department. 'There was this girl...'

'Ah,' said Matthew knowingly, and Ianto laughed.

'The story always starts the same, doesn't it?'

'Yeah,' Matthew agreed, recalling his own two very good reasons for heading back to Cardiff with a pang. 'Love has a hell of a lot to answer for.' He looked at Ianto. 'Can I see my kids before I go?'

Ianto frowned. He'd forgotten about Matthew's children. Surely... 'Are you really going to leave them?'

Matthew wrapped his arms around himself, a visible shudder shaking him. 'I've passed my blood along to them, Ianto,' he said solemnly, his voice slightly tremulous. 'How can I not go knowing they would spend their lives feeling like I felt when the Yungre left me? I can't let them live like that.'

'But perhaps it was you seeing the Yungre that forged this connection and they won't feel...'

'It was always there,' Matthew broke in, shaking his head. 'I've always felt something was missing. I could never settle. I tried with Jen, my ex, but it didn't feel right.' He smiled. 'Now I know what it was. I can't let my kids feel so... lost, so lonely. I have to help them.'

Frustrated, Ianto dragged a hand through his hair then rubbed at his nape. 'I'll talk to Jack,' he said in resignation. 'Arrange for you to see them tomorrow.'

Matthew smiled his thanks then asked, 'What do you see in him? Harkness? I mean, he's not hard to look at and his arse could be considered a work of art, but that can't be enough to make you willing to put up with him.'

Ianto chuckled. 'It is a brilliant arse,' he agreed, making Matthew laugh, the sound bouncing off the empty buildings behind them. 'But there's more than that to him. He... he gives so much to this place – not just this city, but this planet – and no one knows. He just keeps going, no matter what it costs him personally. He's been fighting so long, and he's still got so much longer to go before...'

He bit his lip then sighed as he continued. 'Jack is infuriating and stubborn and arrogant and a complete and utter bastard eighty percent of the time, but when he loves you, he'd do anything for you. He is brave and does the most stupidly sappy, spontaneous things just to make me laugh, and when I'm with him, he makes me feel like I'm the only person in the world.' Ianto frowned, his own words fighting past the pain of the last few weeks to infiltrate his heart. He cleared his throat and added, 'And he would die for any one of us without hesitation.'

Has died for us. Over and Over.

He looked at Matthew. 'He doesn't know you, but he'd die for you, too, if it came down to it. In a heartbeat.'

Matthew stared at Ianto for a long moment then said, with a trace of longing, 'I wish someone looked like that when they talked about me.' He rubbed his hands over his arms. 'That's something I will regret. I've never loved someone like that.'

Ianto hesitated only a second before giving in to his instincts, taking Matthew's face between his hands and kissing him. Matthew made a startled noise in his throat, but quickly kissed Ianto back, his tongue flicking at Ianto's lower lip. With a tiny groan, Ianto opened for him, twisting a fist in Matthew's jacket and pulling him closer as their tongues stroked slowly over each other.

It was nice and sweet, but Matthew wasn't Jack and the realisation that he'd automatically made the comparison made Ianto want to laugh and cry at the same time. No one was ever going to be good enough again. Jack was the yardstick to which every man or woman would be measured against from now on, and they'd all be found wanting. He took a moment to curse the fact that it was unreliable, secretive Jack, not beautiful, loving Lisa, that turned out to be the love of his fucking life.

Ianto broke the kiss first, but kept Matthew close, their foreheads touching. Matthews lips brushed over Ianto's as he smiled and said hopefully, 'It's been so long since I had sex...'

Ianto laughed softly then pressed his lips to Matthew's one last time. 'In another life, Matthew...'

'Yeah,' Matthew said quietly then he sighed and released Ianto, taking a step back. 'Thanks, Ianto.'

'It was no hardship,' Ianto quipped, making Matthew chuckle.

Ianto watched him as they both breathed in the salty air then blurted out, 'You don't have to do this.'

Matthew shook his head. 'I think I do,' he said calmly. 'There's a connection there, Ianto. I felt it as soon as I saw them. The thought of letting them perish...'

His face was pained and he absently rubbed at his chest. 'It's a physical ache; a craving to be with family. It's ingrained in me to help keep them safe... That sounds like complete rubbish, doesn't it?'

Ianto shook his head as Matthew's words hit a little too close to the bone. That was exactly how he felt about Torchwood, about Jack. 'No,' he said softly, suddenly feeling Jack's absence from his life keenly. 'No, that's not ridiculous at all.'

*

 

Gwen looked up as Ianto and Matthew came through the cog door in a burst of lights and sirens. She'd been watching the CCTV feed over Jack's shoulder as the two men talked outside the Tourist Office and had seen Jack's face shift from cautious concern to carefully blank when Matthew kissed Ianto. Then, when Ianto had leaned in a few minutes later, Jack had excused himself, telling her to switch off the feed before he'd disappeared into his office.

'Jack around?' Ianto asked as he came closer, his eyes flicking to Jack's office before focusing on Gwen.

'In his office,' she replied, a little frostily. She had no idea what was going on between Jack and Ianto lately. There was tension, you'd have to be oblivious not to have noticed that, and it sometimes seemed like they were both balancing on a precipice and that just one little shove could send one or both of them over the edge.

Seeing Jack's face earlier, she wondered if Matthew hadn't just given them that push.

'Jack suggested Matthew might like to spend the night in a hotel rather than the cells,' she said with a smile at Matthew. 'I've organised a room at a hotel not far from here, and Jack said he'd arrange for someone to take you to see your children tomorrow, if you wanted.'

Ianto frowned. 'Did Jack follow us up to the Plass?' he asked suspiciously, and Gwen felt a shot of irritation.

'No, he was just thinking Matthew might like a chance to say goodbye should he choose to leave,' she said with a noticeable edge to her voice. 'Everyone underestimates him sometimes.'

Ianto blinked at her, then bit his lip as he silently accepted the chastisement. Matthew looked from Gwen to Ianto then said, 'I should go and say thank you...'

'No,' Ianto said softly. 'I'll talk to him. Gwen, Matthew has decided to leave with Zie and Neis tomorrow. We need to arrange a cover...'

'Toshiko and I are already on it, and Owen is finishing up his scans with Zie and Neis. We wanted to be prepared, just in case,' Gwen told him, softening when she saw him look back towards Jack's office with an expression of apprehension and longing. It took a lot for Ianto to reveal any kind of emotion, and she could practically see him flailing on that cliff edge. She pushed aside her resentment, her envy, and threw him a life line. 'Look, why don't I drive Matthew to the hotel, and you can talk with Jack about the arrangements?'

Ianto let a little grateful surprise show on his face before he smoothed his features out once more. 'Thank you, Gwen,' he said with a nod then he glanced at Matthew. 'I'll see you tomorrow.'

Matthew smiled and clasped Ianto's shoulder. 'Thanks, mate,' he murmured, and Ianto gave him a quick smile before walking towards Jack's office, straightening his suit and squaring his shoulders as if he were heading off to battle.

Gwen shook her head at his back. 'Hopeless bloody men,' she muttered, turning back to Matthew and forcing herself to smile supportively at him. 'Okay, Jack's packed some spare clothes for you so let's go.'

'You lot were watching us on the security cameras, weren't you?' Matthew said astutely, eyes shifting to Jack's closed office door. 'He's not happy with Ianto...'

'Jack and Ianto... they're...'

'Complicated?' Matthew said with a smirk.

Gwen snorted. 'That's an understatement,' she told him, bending to scoop up the backpack Jack had packed with his own clothes and spare toiletries. 'I don't understand it.'

'Love shouldn't be that difficult,' Matthew mused, still gazing at the door.

'I'm not sure... I don't know if it's that kind of relationship,' Gwen confided, ushering Matthew towards the cog door. 'Love, I mean. At least, not on Jack's side, I don't think. He doesn't seem the type to settle for one when he can have them all, if you get what I mean.'

Matthew was quiet until the lift door closed behind them then he said quietly, 'I hope you're wrong, for Ianto's sake.' He looked at Gwen grimly. 'Because this is love for him.'

Gwen stared at him and recalled Jack's unusually subdued reaction earlier. A knot tightened in her belly, and she wasn't sure if she was more troubled by the idea that Ianto was in love with Jack, or the prospect of Jack returning the feelings, so she just turned back to face the closed lift doors and changed the subject.

*

 

Jack wasn't in his office. Ianto leaned over the open manhole cover and heard the sibilant hiss of the temperamental old shower Jack had installed himself after getting caught bare-arsed coming back from the communal showers one too many times. Ianto hesitated for a few seconds before dropping down into Jack's bunker. His body reacted viscerally as Jack's familiar scent hit him, closing his eyes and breathing deeply for a moment to try and get himself under control.

When he opened them again, they fell on Jack's side table and a strip of cerulean blue fabric. Ianto frowned and touched a finger to the carefully folded material, his heart stuttering in its regular beat when he realised it was one of his ties wrapped protectively around his stopwatch. He sighed, the thought of the distance between him and Jack making him ache, then a cloud of warm moist air burst from the bathroom.

Jack came to a halt when he saw Ianto, a strange mix of hurt, remorse and hope flickering across his face before he hid it carefully away. 'Oh,' Jack said, resuming scrubbing at his head with a plain white towel. 'I didn't hear you come down.'

Ianto's brain begged him not to look, but Ianto's brain had never been much involved when it came to decisions about Jack so, of course, Ianto drank in the sight of naked, damp Jack. 'Fuck,' he muttered, when he saw that Jack wasn't averse to the looking. He managed to tear his eyes away, staring at Jack's bare feet which, somehow, seemed ridiculously intimate and made his heart hurt even more.

A flash of white cloth and, when Ianto dared look up, he was both disappointed and relieved to see that Jack had wrapped the towel securely around his waist. He took a steadying breath before trusting his voice not to wobble. 'Gwen took Matthew to the hotel,' he said quietly as Jack moved across the small space to his drawers. 'Thank you for that.'

Jack shrugged, his muscles shifting under lightly tanned skin. Ianto stared, recalling the way those muscles undulated and shivered under his fingertips, then started when Jack said his name sharply.

'What?'

'I said, did you want to take him to see his kids tomorrow?' Jack repeated, frowning at Ianto as he pulled a pair of briefs up and under the towel. Ianto's mouth went dry as he imagined the tight cotton cupping Jack's cock, his balls, pulling tight around the curves of his arse.

'Ianto!'

'Sorry,' Ianto said, jumping at the rebuke then tearing his gaze away. 'Yeah. I'll do that.'

The rustling of Jack's trousers filled the thick silence that had fallen then Ianto's skin prickled in an all too familiar way. He raised his head and saw Jack just inches away, hands fastening his fly as he stared intently at Ianto.

'You can't tell me you want a break from us then look at me like that,' he said, voice tense and a little hoarse. 'I'm trying to give you space, Ianto, but it's not easy.'

Ianto looked away and squeezed his eyes shut tight. 'I know,' he murmured. 'I appreciate it. It's not easy for me either. I... miss you.'

'Is that why you kissed Matthew?' Jack asked softly.

There was no rebuke in his tone, but Ianto still felt a stab of guilt. 'No,' he said, blinking open his eyes and staring at the ceiling. He pressed his forehead against a rung of the ladder, suddenly exhausted. 'I kissed him because he's a great guy who has just found out he's part alien and has been brainwashed into thinking he needs to leave the planet in order to save the race that would have preferred he not exist at all. He wanted a little bit of human connection before he goes, quite possibly, to his death.' He looked at Jack mournfully out of the corner of his eye. 'It seemed the least I could do.'

Jack was quiet for a long moment then his hand pressed against the small of Ianto's back. 'Go home,' he whispered, coming closer and resting his forehead against the side of Ianto's head. 'You're tired and tomorrow will be difficult.'

Ianto nodded, but didn't move. Jack nuzzled his nose into Ianto's hair, his hand sliding up Ianto's spine to rest at his nape. Ianto wasn't entirely successful in hiding his moan and cursed his body as it melted into Jack's touch. Jack's breath shuddered from his lips and he groaned softly.

'Go home, Ianto,' he breathed, thumb moving back and forth over Ianto's skin. Jack brushed his mouth over Ianto's temple, his breath ghosting hot over Ianto's cheek. 'Now.'

Ianto could feel Jack hard against his hip, and his own cock throbbed, trapped flush against his zipper. It would be so easy just to take a step back and fall into Jack's bed, to lose himself in Jack's hands and lips, and he could feel Jack fighting the same temptation.

It was Jack who was strong enough to finally break the contact, turning away with an air of deep regret. 'It wouldn't solve anything,' he said, the rasp in his voice forcing Ianto to stifle a whimper in his throat. 'I still don't know what you want, and you still don't trust that I want you.'

'I want...' Ianto swallowed hard, feeling Jack still. 'You ask for so much of me, Jack, but you won't meet me halfway. I don't need you to slap a label on us, or make any kind of declaration, and Christ, I hate that I sound like some whiny, needy...'

He bit the words back. He was tired, so tired, of the games and guessing and all the things they let fall by the wayside because neither of them had the balls to actually say anything. He looked Jack in the eye. 'I need to know that I'm not in your bed because I was the easier, more willing option at the time. I need to know that I'm not there as a distant third, or fourth, or fifth, and that you're not wishing I was someone else. I need to know I'm in your personal life because you want me there, not because I'm rightly placed for convenience sake. I just need to know what you see when you look at me.'

'I... can't...' Jack looked like he was holding back a flood, and that was worse than being told that he was second choice. It tore Ianto apart to know that it wasn't that Jack couldn't say, but that he chose not to say, "No, you're not a consolation prize, Ianto. I'm not thinking of the Doctor, or Captain Jack, or Gwen when I'm fucking you blind".

Ianto sucked in a breath and nodded, pressing his lips together. He had hoped, really hoped that perhaps a bit of distance would help define what they were to each other, but it seemed he'd either have to be happy with whatever unbalanced arrangement they already had, or live without Jack.

Right now, though, he needed to get out of there.

Ianto put a foot on the bottom rung of the ladder, muttering, 'Good night,' under his breath, but Jack grabbed his arm and held him back.

'I always know it's you with me.' He laughed bitterly, humorlessly. 'Christ, Ianto, you... you are not the easy choice here. You make me want... You make me want.'

He sighed, letting go of Ianto's arm and dragging a hand through his hair, making it stand up in spikes just like it did when he rolled out of bed. Ianto wanted to smooth the errant strands, clenching his fingers around the rung of the ladder to stop himself.

'I've got to hold something back, Ianto,' Jack said, the desperation in his eyes startling Ianto, 'and it's not fair that I ask for all of you when I don't give the same, but I can't because I'll be left with nothing when you leave me. I can't give you all of me.'

'I haven't asked for that,' Ianto said, his voice rising in frustration. 'I've never asked for you to give me everything. I know you can't. What I want is to know where I stand in the here and now because I can't just be your bed warmer anymore.'

'But I want to give you everything,' Jack whispered. He exhaled heavily, like a great burden had finally been lifted from his chest. 'That's the problem. You asked me what I want, but it's something I can't ever have.'

'I... didn't...' The words dried up on Ianto's tongue and he stared at a miserable looking Jack.

Jack sank down onto his narrow bed, elbows on his knees, and face in his hands – the picture of despair. Ianto moved cautiously, sitting on the end of the mattress as Jack mumbled into his hands.

'You challenge me in such a way that I don't even know you're doing it. You rein me in and I haven't even realised what you've done until later. You manage me shamelessly and still make me feel like I'm making the decisions. You know me – better than I ever wanted you to – and you... you haven't run away.'

'You'd only come after me,' Ianto muttered, his cheeks flaring with heat at Jack's description of him. He hadn't realised that Jack knew what he was doing. 'You don't let go easily.'

Jack chuckled then looked up, letting his hands fall into his lap. 'I could have almost anyone in my bed. I could go anywhere in the universe, any time, spend eternity traveling the stars,' he said softly, gazing at Ianto, vulnerability pouring from every cell. 'You want to know why I chose you? Why I want you? Because the thought of missing out on all of that didn't hurt nearly as much as the thought of missing out on you.'

Jack released a long, shaky breath as Ianto sat, stunned. 'And I don't know how it happened,' Jack admitted, with a tinge of frustration in his voice. 'I don't know when I stopped wanting you and started needing you, but I do.'

Ianto didn't know what to say. Jack had given him what he wanted, and he didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth, only to snap it shut when nothing came out. Footsteps over their heads caught their attention, then they heard Owen call, 'I'm going home, Harkness! Our visitors are in their luxury accommodation next to Janet's suite, Gwen's gone home to get shagged, and I'm dragging Tosh out of here to have a drink. You coming, Teaboy?'

Ianto closed his eyes resignedly as Jack yelled back, 'Go away, Owen.'

There was a cackle of laughter then the footsteps receded. Ianto looked up at Jack, and Jack stared back, an appraising frown creasing his brow. After a moment, he abruptly pushed himself to his feet.

'I'm going out.'

Ianto scrambled to his feet. 'No, Jack...'

'I shouldn't have said any of that,' Jack interrupted, yanking open a drawer and pulling out a white undershirt. He slammed the drawer shut then whirled around to glare accusingly at Ianto, who flinched under the heat of the gaze. 'You know, you aren't the world's most open book, either.'

'I know.'

'You could have told me what you wanted ages ago and avoided all of this!

'I know.'

'And I still don't know if this, if I, am what you want. You want me to tell you how I'm feeling, but you're as closed up as ever about how you feel.'

'I know.'

'Stop saying that!'

Ianto sucked his lip between his teeth, his eyes darting about the room in an attempt to avoid Jack's eye. Jack swore under his breath and tugged the shirt over his head, every aggressive movement a testament to his extreme annoyance. 'You, Ianto Jones, are fucking hard work.'

'I love you.'

Jack's head popped out of the neck of his t-shirt and he stared at Ianto, his face slack with shock. 'What?'

Ianto scowled as his cheeks flushed pink. 'Don't be a prick, Jack. You heard me.'

'I... I didn't...' Jack's lips twitched and the surprise in his eyes softened into amusement. 'You...'

'Oh, fuck this,' Ianto hissed, spinning on his heel and grasping the ladder. 'You're a bastard, Harkness.'

'Ianto, stop, okay?' Jack said, hastily crossing the room and seizing Ianto by the hips. 'I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you.'

'Bloody sounds like you are,' Ianto grumbled, managing to kick Jack in the shin as he climbed off the ladder to stand in the circle of Jack's arms.

Jack winced, but wisely kept his mouth shut, taking Ianto's sullen face between his palms. 'I was surprised,' he said, enunciating each syllable clearly and earning another sour glare from Ianto. 'That wasn't what I expected to hear.'

'Yeah, well... it wasn't exactly what I expected to say, either,' Ianto admitted, rolling his eyes. 'Just... I don't want to talk about it. You know now, and...'

'...and so do you,' Jack finished, arching an eyebrow and giving Ianto a meaningful look. 'Or do you think I say that kind of stuff to everyone?'

Ianto felt the weight he'd been carrying tumble from his shoulders, and the corners of his mouth turned up. Jack's burgeoning smile bloomed into a wide grin, and he leaned in to kiss Ianto. Not the hungry, desperate kiss Ianto had expected, but a gentle, sweet press of lips that made Ianto's stomach do a slow flip.

'God,' Ianto murmured into Jack's mouth. 'We are extraordinarily fucked up.'

Jack laughed softly and threaded his fingers through Ianto's hair as he bumped their noses together. 'But we aren't boring,' he whispered, before claiming Ianto's lips again.

*

 

Jack looked up as the invisible lift ground to a halt, quickly clocking Ianto's grim expression and Matthew's red-rimmed eyes. He felt a shot of sympathy. I know what it's like to walk away from a child.

He nodded a greeting as they passed him after catching the guilt in Ianto's gaze, and sent Gwen a 'cease and desist' glare when she opened her mouth. Ianto led Matthew through to Jack's office, and Jack heard a familiar clink of crystal on crystal. He turned back to the CCTV footage of the car park he'd been erasing, making a mental note to restock his scotch supply.

'Should I...?' Gwen asked, waving a hand towards Jack's office as she moved up the stairs to where Jack was sat at Toshiko's desk. Jack shook his head, switching off the CCTV feed.

'Let Ianto handle it,' he said shortly. Gwen seemed sceptical and glanced over her shoulder. Jack frowned. 'Ianto's done a great job supporting Matthew so far. He's very capable, Gwen.'

'I know,' she said hurriedly, pointedly looking away from the office.

Jack looked doubtful about her sudden acquiescence, but inclined his head towards the stairs. 'Come on,' he said. 'Time to get this show on the road.'

The stairs were wide enough that they could walk side by side down the grimy stairs. Gwen shivered as the air got cooler and Jack slid an arm around her, pulling her against his side. She smiled her thanks up at him, her gaze lingering long enough for Jack to begin to feel self-conscious.

'Do I have something on my face?'

She giggled quietly. 'No,' she said, burrowing in closer. 'I was just thinking about how young Ianto is.'

Jack stopped, glancing at her in surprise before continuing on to the cell block. 'You've just realised that?'

Her shoulder nudged his chest as she shrugged. 'Of course I knew how young he was,' she explained. 'But he usually acts so much older that it's easy to forget.'

He couldn't argue with that. How many nights had he lain awake, staring at Ianto like he'd never seen him before, and trying to convince himself to get out of the other man's life while he was young and still had time to live? 'And what's reminded you all of a sudden?' he asked as they reached the upper cell block and pulled apart, the stairs too narrow to walk abreast now.

'You,' she said darkly, falling in behind him.

Jack tensed, realising that this wasn't a conversation he was going to enjoy. 'Wow, I know I look good for my age, Gwen,' he said, faking a loud laugh. 'But I don't get carded in clubs anymore. Hey, did I tell you about the time...?'

'You know he's in love with you?'

Jack sighed and subtly sped up his descent. 'I'm not having this conversation with you.'

'I don't want to see him hurt, Jack.'

Jack came to a halt once again, executing a tight turn on the step. 'I don't want that either,' he said, beginning to quietly seethe. 'So we're on the same page.'

'He loves you, Jack, and you...'

'What?' he pushed when she hesitated. 'Do you think I'm incapable of loving him back?'

She blinked. 'No,' she said quickly, putting a hand on his chest. 'Jack...'

'Ianto is young, but he's one of the smartest men I've had the pleasure to meet,' Jack said, low and strained, and he could see Gwen becoming uneasy. 'And he's perfectly capable of deciding what he wants.' He snorted out a huff of ironic amusement. 'Trust me on that one.'

He turned away from her. 'We enjoy spending time together, Gwen,' he said, the sharp tone of his voice making it clear this was the end of the conversation. 'Don't begrudge us that, yeah?'

He didn't wait for her response, taking the last of the stairs at a trot and leaving her to catch up outside the Yungre's cell.

'Loh,' Jack said, voice hard as he glared at a tranquil Zie and Neis. 'Time to go.'

*

 

Ianto watched Matthew down the three fingers of scotch and wished he'd poured himself one. He hadn't gone into Matthew's ex-wife's house with him – Matthew had insisted on going in alone - and the deathly pale tint of Matthew's skin after had made him guiltily glad.

'You don't have to do this,' Ianto said urgently, dropping to the seat beside Matthew. 'It's not too late.'

Matthew made a noise of disagreement. 'It's not going that's making this hard,' he said raspingly, fumbling the tumbler back onto Jack's desk. 'It's what I'm leaving behind that I'll miss.'

'Then don't go.'

Matthew looked up, eyes clear and calm now, colour blooming in his cheeks. 'I know I could walk away right now, go about my life, and they would accept my decision,' he said steadily. 'But I don't want to. All my life, I've felt this lack of direction, this restlessness. My father felt it, my grandmother... They all left, searching the world for something to give them what they craved. I hated my dad for that, for leaving me behind– until I felt it too.'

He stood up, brushing his hands over the front of his – Jack's - white shirt. 'I tried to settle down. I tried to find what I needed in teaching, with my wife and kids, but it always felt as though I was meant to be somewhere else.'

He smiled a smile of pure contentment, and Ianto felt his stomach clench. He'd seen that same smile on his own face in the mirror this morning, had seen it on Jack's face when he'd woken Ianto with a kiss.

'I know what was missing now,' Matthew told him. 'I was searching for... this...' He pressed his hands to his chest. 'I can't explain it, Ianto, except to say that, with them, I'm home.'

Ianto exhaled heavily then rose to his feet. 'We should get you ready then,' he said resignedly.

Matthew's smile widened and he came forward, catching Ianto's hands in his own and brushing kisses over his knuckles. 'Thank you for what you did earlier in the car,' he murmured, clasping both Ianto's hands tightly. 'I'm sorry if it'll cause trouble with you and Jack.'

Ianto shrugged. 'It was just a bit of a snog,' he said bluntly, still able to taste Matthew's desperate need to feel something other than pain after his final visit with his children. 'Jack would have fucked you to get your mind off it.'

'I'm terribly misunderstood,' Jack boomed from behind them, and Matthew jumped, letting Ianto's hands slip from his. Ianto twisted far enough around to see Jack's face, and smiled gratefully when he saw the acceptance and understanding there.

'I wouldn't have fucked you – sorry, you're a little too abrasive for my tastes – but a hand job wouldn't have been out of the question,' Jack continued, letting his hand brush reassuringly over Ianto's before he folded his arms over his chest. His face lost all traces of humour as he said quietly, 'We're ready for you, Matthew. If you're sure.'

'I'm sure.'

*

 

It was a bit of an anti-climax in the end, Gwen thought, as she squinted at the empty space where Matthew and the Yungre had stood a moment earlier. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting in the way of a goodbye, but Matthew had simply smiled at them each in turn then glared a little at Jack before leaning in and whispering something that made Jack laugh.

The biggest surprise had been when Matthew had cupped Ianto's face and kissed him in front of everyone. And not a 'thank you for all the gorgeous coffee and takeaway' kiss, either. Ianto had flushed, and looked everywhere, but at the rest of the team when they parted. Then Matthew had linked arms with Zie and Neis and, with a flash that set off the incursion alarms once again, they were gone.

Just another day in Torchwood, she thought, feeling at a bit of a loss after the pace of the last couple of days. God, has it really been less than three days since we broke down Matthew's door? She shook her head when she realised how accustomed she'd become to all of this, then turned to Jack for instruction.

*

 

As soon as the light faded, Jack checked with Toshiko that the rift energy had dissipated then turned to Ianto. The other man seemed paler than usual, and was staring unblinkingly at the spot where Matthew had disappeared. 'Ianto?' he called quietly, and Ianto started out of his malaise. He gazed at Jack for a long moment, his face closing up before Jack's eyes, then glanced at the rest of the team.

'I've got cells to clean.'

The others watched him go, Jack chewing the inside of his mouth to stop himself calling after him. He knew Ianto would want some space right now, but Jack was reluctant to leave him to brood. He was contemplating ways of achieving both objectives when he heard Toshiko say his name tentatively. He shook himself and smiled at her.

'Toshiko, you and Owen start entering the medical data from the Yungre into the mainframe. I want everything we've got transferred ASAP so Ianto can archive the hard copies. Gwen...' Jack hesitated then stripped his braces down his arms as he said, 'I need you to sort through the cold storage records. You're looking for a body the approximate size of Matthew Prentiss. We have an accident to arrange.'

Gwen nodded absently, her eyes on Jack's hands as they unfastened the buttons on his shirt.

'Er, the girls will probably kill me for bringing this to your attention,' Owen said, staring askance at Jack, 'but did you realise you're putting on an impromptu strip tease?'

Jack gave him a withering look then lifted an arm to unbutton his cuff. 'I'm in full possession of my faculties, thank you, Owen,' he said, working on the second cuff. 'Although I'm impressed by your keen observational skills.'

Owen's lip curled in a 'fuck you' snarl as Toshiko asked hesitantly, 'Um, what were you planning to do, Jack?'

He slipped his shirt from his shoulders and slung it haphazardly over the arm of the ratty old couch. 'I've got cells to clean,' he said quietly before heading off in the direction in which Ianto had disappeared.

The others were quiet then Owen screwed up his nose. 'I really hope that's not a euphemism,' he said before striding off towards the medical bay. Toshiko and Gwen exchanged a glance then Toshiko flicked the CCTV feed to the cell block as Gwen pulled up a chair.

*

 

Things slowly got back to normal over the next week or so, Jack pleased to see that Ianto had spent fewer moments staring at the place where Matthew had disappeared. The rift had been behaving itself so Jack devoted all his spare time to making Ianto smile, an endevour that disgusted Owen, amused Toshiko, and prevented another conversation about his intentions with Gwen.

Ianto was outwardly disdainful about the attention, but Jack caught the pleased flush that coloured his cheeks, and the sex had been particularly amazing of late.

The rift was so quiet that, when Jack walked Ianto to his door after dinner exactly two weeks after Matthew left, he ended up spending the night for the first time. Going to sleep beside someone in a bed other than his own was joyful, if not a tiny bit frightening. Waking up just before dawn, though, with Ianto's beautiful lips wrapped around his cock was many things, but frightening didn't get a look in. He was in the process of returning the favour when he became aware that Ianto's cursing wasn't entirely due to his tongue's prowess.

'Tell me that is not a rift alert,' Jack muttered, hand still working Ianto's spit-slicked cock even as he fought to get out from under the bed sheets.

'Shit,' Ianto cursed, wrapping his hand around Jack's and increasing the pace. 'Don't you dare stop.'

Jack chuckled as he reached for the beeping wrist strap sitting the side table. Concentrating on the pattern of spikes was difficult with Ianto's lips biting at his throat. 'It's close,' he mumbled, snapping his wrist faster.

'So am I,' Ianto breathed, arching up into Jack's fist then groaning in protest when Jack stopped. 'Jack...'

'Sorry.' Jack frowned at the coordinates. 'This is really close.'

'If I have to chase a Weevil while I've got a hard on, I'm going to be unspeakably pissed off.'

'It's not a Weevil.'

'I'll be equally displeased if it's a Hoix.'

'It's something else,' Jack said, abandoning the bed and reaching for his trousers. 'And it's here. In your yard.'

'Fuck!' Ianto yelled in frustration before he swung his legs over the side of his bed and scooped up his jeans.

*

 

Being Cardiff, it was, of course, pouring when they burst out into Ianto's small, overgrown backyard, torches cutting a swathe through the sheet of rain. 'My neighbours are going to think we're insane,' Ianto said loudly, leaning in close to Jack to peer over his shoulder at the wrist strap. 'Let's just find whatever it is and get back inside. I'm still bloody hard.'

Jack smirked and waved his hand to his left. 'You go that way, I'll go the other.' He twisted around to plant a kiss on the corner of Ianto's mouth. 'Be careful.'

He could feel Ianto's eye roll, and smiled as he watched the bedraggled man head for the fence line. He jogged over to the other side of the yard to do a sweep; the sooner they found whatever it was, the sooner he could get his mouth around that gorgeous cock again.

'Jack!'

Ianto's panicked shout made Jack's heart falter then pound double time. He spun around, his stomach dropping when he couldn't see Ianto through the dim light and pelting rain. 'Ianto? Where are you?'

'East!'

Jack crashed through the knee-high grass, ducking a low-hanging branch as he reached a small cluster of trees. Relief crashed over him when he saw Ianto's lean frame crouched over something dark on the ground. 'You alright?' he asked as he approached, his hand coming to rest on Ianto's shoulder.

'Yeah,' Ianto said, a little tremulously as he blinked up at Jack, droplets streaming down his face. 'Jack, look.'

Jack sank to his haunches beside Ianto and caught a glimpse of the dark object resting on the undergrowth. The spherical object with all too familiar symbols etched into the metal.

'Oh, hell.'

*

 

Jack and Ianto watched as Toshiko scanned the sphere that sat on Jack's desk, her lips pursed in concentration. Jack's eyes slid to the side, watching Ianto's fingers drum restlessly on the edge of the desk. When Toshiko began to press buttons on the device, Ianto's breath hissed softly from between his lips.

'Toshiko, report,' Jack said, sensing Ianto's imminent implosion and putting a hand on the tapping fingers in an attempt to hold it back.

'Same energy as Matthew's...' She sucked her lower lip into her mouth and looked up at Ianto for the first time since they placed the sphere in front of her. 'Oh, Ianto, I'm...'

'Is it dangerous?' Jack asked bluntly, and Toshiko shook her head.

'No,' she said decisively then tilted her head. 'Want me to take it into the artifact room and try and open it?'

'No,' said Ianto, jaw tightening as he stared at the sphere. 'I think this one's for me.'

Before they could stop him, Ianto curled his hands around the sphere. Instantly, the room was filled with light and the sirens sounded. Toshiko stumbled towards her desk as Jack reached out, wrapping his fingers around Ianto's arm.

'Damn it, Ianto,' he yelled just as the sirens cut out.

The glow faded as Tosh returned, and they all squinted as the now-open orb came into focus. 'What...?' Jack said, leaning over the table to get a better look at the dusty contents of the communication device. 'It's...'

'Ashes,' Toshiko said, looking up from her scanner to cast a horror-filled glance at Ianto. 'Human and... Yungre DNA signatures.'

'Matthew,' Ianto whispered. He bit his lip and nearly tripped as he staggered away from the sphere, his arm slipping from Jack's grip. 'God.'

'Toshiko, are you sure it's him?' Jack barked, and Toshiko shook her head.

'Not one hundred percent,' she admitted. 'Owen should be here soon. He can do a DNA...'

'What's that?' Ianto broke in, pointing to what looked like a round, black stone that had appeared out of nowhere on top of the pile of ashes. 'Isn't that like the one Zie had? The one that showed us where he came from?'

Jack nodded, but refused to allow him to touch it until Toshiko cleared it then reluctantly waved for Ianto to go ahead. Ianto took a deep breath then pressed the tips of his fingers to the smooth surface.

A flickering image appeared; a hologram of an elderly man smiling down at them. Jack glanced at Ianto, who seemed as confused as he was.

'Loh, Ianto,' the man said, his voice thin and quavering. 'You probably don't recognise me. I'm a little older than when you last saw me, although I'm still a great kisser.'

'Christ,' Ianto breathed, his eyes wide as realisation hit Jack. 'It's Matthew.'

'For me, it's been over one hundred years since we snogged by Cardiff Bay,' Matthew continued, a reminiscent smile on his face. 'Thank you again for giving me that. I know you weren't in a good place, but you gave me a final memory to hold on to so, thank you.'

Ianto swallowed hard, his face pained. Jack looked at Toshiko, nodding almost imperceptibly towards the door, and she smiled her understanding before backing out of the room.

'For you, it should have only been a week or two since I left,' Matthew was saying when Jack returned his attention to the hologram. 'I wasn't sure if you'd remember me if I left it much longer, and I didn't want you to feel guilty about what happened.'

He took a breath, wheezing a little, and appeared to wave dismissively at someone out of sight before he went on. 'I know you didn't think I had a choice, that I was being taken against my will, but, oh, Ianto, the things I've seen, the life I've had.'

He smiled, and suddenly, Jack was taken back two weeks to the man who smiled so brightly as he transported away. Ianto's breath shuddered from him, shaking his entire body, and Jack shifted, standing behind Ianto and wrapping his arms around his middle.

'The cure worked,' Matthew said gleefully as Jack rested his chin on Ianto's shoulder. 'We suffered the loss of many family members, but saved so many more.'

His eyes slid to the side and he beckoned to someone. A willowy figure dressed in voluminous robes appeared beside him, a white, long-fingered hand on Matthew's shoulder. 'This is my partner, Hutri, and my son, Ifan, is helping me make this communication for you. The Yungre have been good to me, and we were granted leave to breed. Things are changing here. Slowly, but it's happening.'

He leaned closer, his green eyes brilliant as they appeared to look right at them. 'I wanted you to know it's okay, Ianto. I had a brilliant life, and my only regret is that I didn't get to see my girls grow up first hand. I visited Earth a few times, watched them graduate college, watched them have their own children, attended their funerals...' His lip wobbled a little then he cleared his throat. 'Thank you for telling them I died a hero, that I died trying to save someone. I'm not sure of the details of the cover story, but I know that, instead of thinking I was a deadbeat dad who just disappeared from their lives, they believed I was courageous. I can't thank you enough for giving me – for giving them – that.'

He coughed, then shook his head. 'My Yungre family aren't best pleased about this bit,' he admitted, smiling up at his partner. 'But they've had me all their lives. My daughters only had me for a few years. I'm nearing the end of my life, and I want to come back to Cardiff. I know you've probably already had a funeral, but I want what's left of my body to be there in my grave – not just an empty coffin.' He smiled again, this time, it was resigned. 'I know I'm asking even more of you, Ianto, but I hope you can do this one last thing for me.'

Matthew leaned back, his eyes closing in apparent exhaustion. Ianto's breathing caught, and Jack pressed closer.

'I hope you have a good life, Ianto. I hope that bastard Captain of yours realises what he's got.' Ianto muttered something under his breath, his face turning pink, and Jack dropped a chaste kiss at the crook of Ianto's shoulder. 'Thank you all for helping me save my family.'

He nodded then the hologram faded. Ianto's fingers clenched around the stone for a moment before he let it fall back onto the ashes. 'Alright?' Jack asked softly, after a minute of silence.

Ianto nodded then turned in Jack's arms and kissed him hard. When he pulled back, he gave Jack a forced smile and gently extracted himself. 'I'm going to feed Myfanwy,' he said. 'Then I'll make the coffee. The others will be in soon, and Toshiko must need a drink after we woke her so early.'

'Ianto.'

Ianto blinked, his eyes taking an inordinately long time to reopen. 'I'm alright,' he said quietly. 'I just need a few minutes to myself.'

Jack tried not to let that sting, feeling it would be slightly hypocritical given his own penchant for brooding on rooftops. 'Of course,' he said with a reassuring smile. He glanced at the sphere. 'I'll put this somewhere safe until you can get to the cemetery.'

Ianto nodded, almost at the door before he hesitated and turned back to Jack. 'Would you come with me?' he asked tentatively. 'To scatter his ashes?'

Jack was surprised by the request. 'I guess...' he said, regretting his choice of words when Ianto's face closed up.

'No pressure...' he said, spinning on his heel.

'Ianto,' Jack said, crossing the room quickly and grabbing Ianto's elbow. He stood in front of the other man and cupped his cheek in one hand. 'I'd like to come,' he said firmly. 'I just didn't want you to think you had to include me.'

Ianto's face crumpled and he collapsed against Jack's chest, face buried in Jack's neck. 'I want you there,' he murmured, the vibrations from his voice making Jack's skin tingle. 'I'm just not sure if I have the right to ask.'

Jack's hands cradled Ianto's head, urging it up so he could see Ianto's face. 'You're my friend and my lover,' Jack said softly, watching the colour rise over Ianto's cheekbones. 'You have the right.'

Ianto gave him a wavering smile, and Jack kissed him – a gentle press of lips that turned into something so tender it made Jack ache. Then Ianto was gone, and Jack was left with his fingers ghosting over his lips and longing for time to stand still so he could have Ianto Jones for just a bit longer.

*

 

Ianto crouched by the rectangular path of earth set in the lush grass of the cemetery, the sphere - wrapped in one of Jack's towels – in his hands. The earlier rain had dried up, the weak warmth of the sun not yet enough to make Ianto uncomfortable in his jacket. His eyes skimmed over the inscription on the headstone Loving father and son. Died bravely. then he pushed the towel aside and touched the cool metal of the sphere. The flash of light wasn't as blinding out in the open, but Ianto saw Jack, who was standing out the front by the SUV, surreptitiously checking for witnesses.

Ianto used a corner of the towel to pick up the stone, bundling it up and placing it carefully on the ground. He wrapped his hands around the sphere, staring at the symbols etched into the surface.

'You were right,' he whispered, stroking a thumb over a mark. 'I felt like we'd failed you. But seeing your message...' He smiled a bittersweet smile. 'I'm glad you found happiness, Matthew. And I'm glad you came home in the end.'

He tipped the sphere, watching as fine grey ash poured out, some of the granules catching on the gentle breeze. 'In another life,' he murmured, putting the sphere aside and fumbling in the folds of the towel for the stone. He dug a shallow hole in the dirt and used the towel to drop the stone into its own snug grave. 'Goodbye,' he said softly as he covered the stone with earth then patted it down firmly.

He wrapped the sphere in the towel once again then pushed himself to his feet, feeling Jack coming up behind him. A warm hand settled on his shoulder, and he leaned into the supportive touch.

Jack murmured something under his breath, and Ianto looked back over his shoulder at him. 'What was that?'

Jack gave him an oddly nervous half-smile before repeating himself. 'It's a traditional Boeshanian farewell,' he explained quietly.

Ianto frowned, quickly flipping through his mental catalogue for any memory of Tosh translating the particular language. 'What...?'

'It's the language spoken where I was born,' Jack broke in, his voice thick with emotion. 'The Boeshane Peninsula.'

A soft exhale was the only indication that Ianto was surprised by the revelation then Ianto turned to face Jack. 'It's beautiful,' he said with a smile as a piece of the puzzle that was Jack Harkness fitted into place. 'I've heard it before, haven't I?'

Jack's sheepish smile brightened his face. 'Yeah,' he admitted, flushing. 'I might have let a word or two slip in bed occasionally.'

Ianto chuckled and threaded the fingers of his free hand through Jack's, leading him back through the graveyard to the car park. 'Let me guess. Ideas for sexual experiments that would actually cause the timelines to collapse should we perform them?' He opened the boot, carefully placing the wrapped sphere inside before slamming it shut. Jack put a hand on his chest, bringing him to a halt, and pushed him up against the vehicle.

'No,' he said, lowering his head to brush his lips over Ianto's throat, over his pulse point. Ianto's heart skipped a beat, just like it did every time Jack touched him, and he closed his eyes. 'I've been telling you what I want for a long time, Ianto. Just... not in a way you could understand.'

Jack's words made something inside Ianto turn to molten liquid. A flush of heat washed over Ianto's skin as he gave himself over to the sheer force of his feelings for Jack. He usually kept it all carefully locked away, fearful of what might be left of him if he allowed himself to really feel everything. Now, he was breathless as emotion swamped him. It was frightening and intoxicating and the most incredible feeling ever. He cleared his throat, very aware of Jack's lips still on his jaw, hands unmoving on his chest, as he waited for Ianto's reaction.

'You always did cheat,' Ianto whispered before turning his face into Jack's neck and breathing in deeply. He felt rather than heard the rumble of Jack's laughter then strong hands were lifting his face, and he was being kissed senseless.

This is what I want. This, exactly.

'Wanna go back to your place?' Jack mumbled, words muffled by Jack's refusal to shift his mouth from Ianto's. 'We can finish what we started this morning.'

'Oh, yeah,' Ianto purred, sliding his arms around Jack's neck and ducking his head for another kiss.

And, in true Torchwood style, that was when Jack's wrist strap beeped.

'You have got to be kidding me!'

With a grin, Jack snapped his cuff back and checked his Vortex Manipulator. 'Weevils,' he announced. He looked at Ianto and rocked his hips. 'Hm, looks like you're going to be chasing Weevils with a hard on after all.'

'I hate you.'

'No, you don't.'

'Arse.'

Jack smirked and kissed Ianto firmly before stepping back. 'Come on, Jones, Ianto Jones,' he said chirpily, slapping Ianto on the backside as he turned to climb into the SUV. 'Work to do.'

fin.


End file.
